Afterglow
by prophet-of-troy
Summary: Hermione didn't care that the soulmate potion didn't reveal who she was meant for, too content with who it wasn't. She only cares about keeping Harry far away from Umbridge and helping the Order wherever she can. But when Harry has a strange vision, they must save Sirius from Voldemort and- well- people just don't stay dead the way they used to... luckily for her.
1. Blood and Bluebell Petals

Chapter one: Bloods and Bluebell Petals

Hermione could feel him staring at her, ever since their project for the week was announced days prior. She wasn't naive. She knew he fancied himself in love, and she knew most people expected her to return those feelings, but they obviously didn't know him the way she did. Nor did they know her if they thought she would tolerate his bad attitude in any way other than friendship. Over the years, she, Harry, and Ron had become famous as the Golden Trio- she and Ron by association of Harry. She never cared about that. She only cared about Harry, whom she regarded as a brother. But Ron, well, most times she only put up with him for Harry.

Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you asked, she'd been able to squeeze her cauldron between Lavender and Neville- the latter of which was on his seventh new cauldron and they were only nearing the end of February. He shot her forlorn looks from between Harry and Seamus, trying and failing not to be seen staring. Even Neville leaned over and whispered,

"Why is Ron staring at you?"

That made her smile.

"Now," Professor Snape said, pacing through the aisles of simmering cauldrons in his trademarked glide, "your yarrow tonic should have transitioned into a silvery white color. Now, can anyone tell me why we've used the petals as opposed to the more commonly used yarrow _root_?"

He very obviously wasn't too thrilled about the lesson, but according to rumors, Professor Dumbledore had requested he teach the potion to 'lift spirits and open the path for love'. Professor Snape was using the lesson for every class, fourth year and above, though he looked as though he would rather do _any_ thing else. She debated on raising her hand to answer the question, but knew he would either ignore her or make a snide remark about her answer- making Harry add a rude comment in a spot of misguided bravery- and really, she just wanted to brew.

"No one?" He drawled, raising an eyebrow at her as he passed.

Luckily, Lavender raised her hand in a moment of rare participation on her part. Professor Snape nodded for her to answer. "Because the flower is prettier and no one wants an ugly soulmate?"

Snape stopped his pacing and sighed, closing his eyes and bowing his head. "Anyone with an intelligence quotient higher than their age?"

Hermione smirked at that comment and did in fact raise her hand this time. Snape didn't even make a snide remark, obviously wanting to move on as well. "Because this potion is all about the meaning of things, rather than actual use. Yarrow petals represent everlasting love, where the root can be used as common treatment for hay fever, colds, and other issues. Some people use it to make a tea to soothe their ailments."

"Almost textbook," he sneered, "how wonderful to know that the lack of being able to think for yourself can count for _something._ "

Well, she _thought_ he wanted to move on. As expected, Harry defended her the way he did to anyone that wasn't Ron and had points taken without Snape so much as having to take a new breath to do so. Hermione rewarded Harry with a half smile, earning her friend a glare from Ron.

"As Miss Granger so graciously recited for us," Professor Snape said, commanding their attention again, "everything in the art of potion-making has a meaning- past being _pretty_."

Lavender pursed her lips and looked at her cauldron.

"So I hope you've chosen your ingredients wisely, as this is the furthest I can help you with doing so. _Mate Animae Meae_ is a potion designed to help one find their _soulmate_ ," he said the word with a tone of disgust and hatred, glaring at nothing and seeming to be grinding his teeth. Before he could continue, Seamus interrupted.

"Does that mean _you_ have a soulmate?" The boy asked with a mocking tone to his Irish brogue. Hermione closed her eyes and sighed in pity for him. A few brave students, no one ever said the house of courage had an over abundance of tact or intelligence, laughed with him as Seamus nudged Ron with his elbow.

Professor Snape stopped in front of Seamus, his back to Hermione where she couldn't see what was happening- but if Harry's glare was anything to go by he was being true to his character. "I want you to look into my eyes, Mr. Finnegan. What do you see?"

"I-it's c-cold. And dark."

"That's your future," the man said quietly. "You will hold your tongue or I will cut it out for you so that it won't be an issue anymore, and the next time you feel the need to be amusing and say something? I suggest you don't."

When he moved, Seamus was pale with a drawn face as he stared into the air that Snape had previously occupied. "Add your florals," the professor told them.

"Crushed bittersweet," she said with a small smile, "for truth."

She'd researched many things, and had briefly debated about using fern for sincerity, but she much preferred truth to sincerity. She'd known too many sincere liars.

"You know, your flowers aren't very pretty," Lavender said beside her.

Hermione scoffed, rolling her eyes. "If you'd been paying attention, we're meant to have chosen things based on what we want in our mate. What our hearts each desire, and not what our eyes find appeasing."

"Well," the other girl said in a somewhat snobby voice. "I found the prettiest purple flowers. I think they're called hyanths or something."

"Purple hyacinths?" Hermione questioned, rolling her eyes again at Lavender's enthusiastic and pleased nod. "They represent sorrow, forgiveness, and regret. How very appropriate."

That seemed to do the trick as Hermione was left to grind her bluebell petals in peace and added them. "Bluebell," she recited from her noted, not having to consult them as she glanced to Ron, "for humility. And a lotus flower in full bloom, for patience."

When she'd added the bluebells, the potion had brightened to a soft blue, but the lotus seemed to change the potion completely- a burst of sweet scent wafting from her cauldron and the color turned to a deep gold. It was beautiful, and she felt a sense of pride swell in her heart as she looked at the swirling liquid.

"Now your herbs or otherwise not floral plant ingredients," she heard Professor Snape say, "Weasley, those are not for eating!"

She didn't glance up to see what Ron was being scolded for, stirring her potion with an oak stirring rod that she'd collected herself- as well as most of the ingredients to her potion. Oak, for strength. When writing her ingredients, Hermione hadn't been sure if she was looking for strength in relationship or strength of character, but while stirring she was positive she needed both. Perhaps both. When she added the sprig of thyme, for courage, the smell changed into something she couldn't describe, but belonged in a forest.

Neville was doing well on his own for once, though that might have had something to do with Snape keeping his distance from their table- either by coincidence or design she wasn't sure. The _Mate Animae Meae_ potion was to help you discover your soul mate, and the majority of its ingredients were unique to each individual. They had each researched their ingredients and chosen carefully, though some were obviously not as careful as they were supposed to be, and now they were to be brewing it. If brewed correctly, the drinker should see a glow around their soulmate. Though failure could be disastrous, it would not be fatal as the potion was made from the purest parts of each person. And Hermione was determined to get hers right, having gone as far as collecting her ingredients herself, the ones she could, venturing into the Forbidden Forest to do so- if only to prove there was more to her future than marrying Ronald Weasley.

Professor Snape's wandering had lead him back to the front of the room at his desk and he spun on his heel to face the class. "Your personal pieces next."

Yes, the parts of themselves. Much like many potions, Polyjuice being the first to come to mind, it required something of a person. Hermione watched students around the classroom pluck strands of their hair from their heads to toss into their cauldrons, or Merlin forbid, _spit_ into the potions, but Hermione had thought long and hard before deciding that she would do neither. She would use what very few people would ever consider, something that was only legal by tradition and a technicality. Hermione glanced around to be sure no one was watching before grabbing her knife- that she'd sterilized more than once to prepare for this- and made a quick cut to the meaty side of her hand. She held the cut over her potion, still glancing around, and let three drops fall into it.

"Hermione!" Neville hissed quietly at her, his eyes widening at her cut as she hid it in her robes. "What were you thinking?"

"Neville, I-"

"Problems?" A shadow appeared behind them and they turned to see Professor Snape sneering at them, his hands behind his back and his eyes peering over his hooked nose at them.

Neville shot a glance at Hermione and then back to Snape. "N-no, sir."

"Something wrong with your hand, Miss Granger?"

Hermione resisted the urge to tense and flex the hand in question, a slight sting serving to remind her why she shouldn't. "Of course not, sir."

He obviously didn't believe her, and opened his mouth to say so, when he had to shield his face from Neville's cauldron exploding. Hermione gasped in surprise, throwing her hand up to guard her own face from the cloud of gas rising from the now melted cauldron. But... Hermione had been watching his potion out of the corner of her eye. It had been perfect, she'd been so proud...

"What did you do?" Snape growled at him, patting a flame out of his sleeve and leaving it singed.

"I-I-"

There were three small white things on Neville's work area, where Hermione had been sure there were originally four. They were too far away from the cauldron for them to have fallen into it on accident. He'd done it on purpose, to distract Snape from seeing her hand. She didn't want to think about what he'd have said, any type of blood magic generally being automatically accepted as dark.

"Tentacula teeth?" Professor Snape asked incredulously. "You foolish boy! What are you doing with Venomous Tentacula teeth in my class?"

"Well," Neville said slowly, looking to Hermione for help.

"Professor Sprout's tentaculi are teething!" Hermione said quickly, vaguely remembering Neville mentioning it during a DA meeting. "And, I promised to help Neville figure how to reduce their teething time but I thought it might be best to have examples of their baby teeth first."

Neville looked at her in awe of how fast she came up with the story, and Professor Snape narrowed his eyes at her as if trying to decide if she was lying. But, even though he didn't like her, Hermione wasn't generally one to cause trouble and even _he_ couldn't dispute _that_. So, still looking at her suspiciously, he straightened before turning back to Neville with a sneer. With a wave of his hand, Neville's botched potion was vanished and Snape swept away with a whipping movement from his robes.

Hermione sighed in relief and turned to Neville, who no longer had a soulmate potion. "Neville, I'm so sorry."

He shrugged and smiled. "You'd have come up with something for me, only difference is you would have found something much better than blowing up a potion."

"But your Glow-"

"Hopefully my Glow with be better at potions than I am and will tell me."

She smiled at him and glanced to her own cauldron. "I'll replace your cauldron."

"Don't worry about it. It's not the most cauldrons I've destroyed in a year. I went through twenty first year alone. I'm only up to eight and school's almost over!"

That was one way of looking at it, she supposed, as Professor Snape told them it was time for their words. She'd decided to do this differently as well, as she'd done with the blood from her hand in lieu of hair. The original words, roughly translated from the demanded Latin, were as follows: _mate of my soul, love of my destiny, hear my call so that I might devote myself to you and belong to you._

Hermione knew what Ron thought of her, as his. It was in his forced smile whenever she and Harry were talking. It was in his voice when he defended her to any Slytherin. It was there at the Yule Ball when he'd condemned her for accepting Viktor Krum's invitation. She wasn't going to belong to anyone, soul mate or no. So she'd changed the words, recited the English words in her mind as she said the Latin translation. _Mate of my soul, love of my destiny, hear my call so that I might devote myself to you and we shall belong to each other._ And if Neville thought it strange that her words didn't echo with the rest of the class', he said nothing.

As her fingers hovered over the potion, the incantation still on her lips, there was a ripple on the surface of the potion and she thought she felt something; a tingling that began in her fingers and rose up her arm in a straight line to her heart. Professor Snape was still walking through the aisles, his eyes rolling at some peoples' choices in ingredients and insulting Harry under his breath. She glanced to find Harry adding last minute petals of alyssum, which she knew to represent worth beyond beauty.

"You may now test your potions," Snape told them. "Please spare me your ridiculous screeches of disappointment and excitement when or if you are successful. Mr. Finnegan! If you want your Glow to live to their fullest age, I suggest you step away from the rosemary."

Hermione carefully, with her hands shaking in anxiety, lifted a beaker of the golden potion to her lips. Despite the steam blowing from her cauldron, her potion was cool and tasted like blackberries. She felt her pulse thrum in her veins, but when she opened her eyes, there was no glow around any of the people that she could see. She stared hard at Ron for a few moments, to see if maybe the potion need to sink in more, but there was nothing at all.

Instead, there was a sort of squeal from Lavender Brown as she ran to the redhead and threw her arms around him gleefully. Ron looked both; disappointed it wasn't Hermione and she didn't seem to care, and happy at Lavender's enthusiasm. Hermione rather thought it a perfect match and sagged in relief that he wasn't hers.

"You okay?" Neville asked, examining his tentacula teeth.

"Never better," she grinned. "It's not Ron, I feel like shouting it from the Astronomy Tower."

He looked up startled, "Who would even think it would be? I would believe you and Harry before I believed you and Ron."

She glanced to her other friend, "Yes, well, thankfully it isn't him either."

Speaking of, and thinking of as well, Harry was glaring at his potion as though it had offended him. His face was a mixture of white and green, with a red tinge to his cheeks. He looked up and towards the Slytherin side, but she couldn't tell exactly who it was that he was looking at. Not Malfoy... they'd kill each other. She watched as Daphne Greengrass looked up, locking eyes with Harry as the two seemed to have a conversation with each other before Harry jerked his face away and Daphne calmly looked back to cleaning up her work station.

Hermione didn't know much about Daphne Greengrass, though she'd always been kind to Hermione in their shared Ancient Runes and Arithmancy classes. She was pure-blood, Hermione knew that, and had a younger sister that was in her third year. She wasn't a snob the way Malfoy or Pansy Parkinson were, but rather very quiet with a sort of ethereal beauty about her. She had blonde hair, perfectly clear blue eyes that were slightly too far apart, and an aristocratic face that suggested she should be wearing fabrics of pure gold with a crown resting on her head. The girl seemed to sense Hermione's eyes and looked up, and Hermione quickly went back to her cleaning.

"I expect your essays on which ingredients you chose for your potions and why," Professor Snape told the class, "handed in to me on Monday. And I'd better not see anything about the appearance of an ingredient in your reasoning or there will be cauldrons for the student waiting for them on Monday evening. Do I make myself clear, Miss Brown?"

"Yes, sir," Lavender mumbled, scratching notes out on her parchment. "Hermione, what is mint supposed to mean? Or roses?"

"What color?"

"Green."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not the mint, the _rose_."

"Oh. Pink, then."

Hermione glanced over to the leftover chopped petals on Lavender's table. "Happiness. Mint means virtue. Whatever possessed you to choose _mint_?"

The other girl looked up in surprise at the question. "Well, I didn't want a soulmate that smelled bad, did I? Besides, Ron smells lovely."

Obviously, Lavender hadn't been around Ron after he went flying. Though, with all of his faults- and there were plenty to choose from to help the statement- Ron generally smelled nice. Like spearmint.

"Miss Granger," Professor Snape drawled as the students left the room, "stay."

 _Bark_ , Hermione thought sardonically, her feet planted mid-step at the command. Neville passed her on his way out with an expression that said he was obviously hesitant to leave her there. Harry and Ron were each too preoccupied, the former with thoughts of his soulmate no doubt, and the latter with the _hands_ of his soulmate that Hermione couldn't tell which were his and which were not. But Hermione gave Neville a smile that she hoped conveyed that she was alright, and watched him leave- the door closing with a resounding _whump!_

"Come here," Snape said with a deadly calm voice- like an arctic fox might use to lull the lemming into a false sense of security. Or perhaps a parasite, whose host might be completely ignorant to the dangers of.

Hermione slowly stepped towards where Professor Snape stood beside his desk. Looking at his face, but avoiding straight eye contact for fear it might provoke or challenge him. True, he didn't generally treat her as awfully as he did Harry, but that might be because she went out of her way not to give him reason to. "Yes, sir?"

"Show me your hand."

She was tempted, very much so, to hold up only her right hand- but she knew why he was asking and pretending that she didn't know would only make things worse. It would only insult his intelligence, which she was not in the best sort of position to do at the moment. So she held out both hands, palm up so that he would see the angry looking pink cut on her left hand.

"Did you sterilize the blade properly beforehand?" He asked, looking at the cut.

"Twice."

"How?"

"I held it over a fire until the blade was red, and then I soaked it in boiling water for twenty minutes." She'd done the same thing when she and her muggle neighbor had decided to pierce their own ears, having seen her mother do it once.

He nodded, jerking her hand to examine it further when something whirred in his desk drawer. He released it immediately and went around to the other side of his desk as the door opened and Umbridge waltzed in uninvited. Her eyes squinted distrustfully at Hermione, her lips pursed in that infuriating way of hers, but she moved on to the dour man that stood across the desk.

"Severus," she said in a breathy way Hermione recognized from Lavender and Parvati as someone trying to be seductive, "I've come to request a favor. Might we speak in private?"

"Certainly, Dolores," he returned in a voice that Hermione knew to be loathing, though she reasoned that it might not sound so to someone unfamiliar with the man. "My office? Miss Granger, you will not leave this room until I return. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," Hermione said, trying not to make it obvious that she was suspicious of anything.

The two went through the door that led to his office, though she'd never had reason to enter it, but Professor Snape somehow left the door open a crack- just missing the latch. Hermione's forehead deepened, thinking to herself that he wasn't the sort of man to not close a door entirely if he meant for it to be. She waited a moment, fighting the part of her brain she blamed on Harry, before creeping towards the open door to eavesdrop.

"Veritaserum?" Snape's voice came, with only the slightest emphasis to suggest his curiosity and interest. Through the crack, she could see him and Umbridge's back. His eyes glanced to the crack of the door in a command that she be silent. And so she was.

"Yes, it is time that I find out what Potter and Dumbledore are up to. Will you cooperate? Or be part of the quandary?"

"Forgive me, Dolores, but you seem to be under the gross misguidance that I care for Potter one way or another." She noticed that he artfully left the headmaster out of that as he turned to a cabinet in the corner. She couldn't see what he was doing, though it sounded as though he were searching for something, and it didn't seem that Umbridge was any better off- obviously trying to get a peek.

He turned back around with a small bottle that he held out to her. "Three drops," he told her. "No more, no less, and I'd advise you be careful whose tea you tip it into. Your own, and you might give things away you don't want the headmaster knowing. Tip it into the headmaster's, and you're likely to be caught doing so."

She snatched it from him hungrily, and Hermione quickly rushed back to her previous position for when they came out- pretending to be very absorbed in writing what she hoped appeared to be homework. It didn't matter as Umbridge paid her no mind, but left in something of a gleeful hurry.

"The antidote is not something a Hogwarts student would be skilled enough to brew successfully, Miss Granger," Snape told her when the toad was gone- though she would never admit to calling Umbridge that in her mind as it might encourage Harry and Ron. "Not even you, despite your affinity with Polyjuice."

A warm pink mounted her cheeks and mantled her brow at the memory, and the new knowledge that he'd known about it all along. "Occlumency," she started, but he stopped her there.

"Potter hasn't the skill for it and likely never will," he said plainly and without his usual bite. "Much like Divination, you either have the natural affinity or you do not and despite the headmaster's best wishes- Potter lacks it. Warn him if you must, but tell no one else or it will be sure to get back to her."

She wasn't sure why he was telling her this, being helpful and at the same time civil without insult, but she supposed it was for Dumbledore and the Order. It made her feel as though there was a secret with the two of them and some sort of common ground that pleased her.

"Yes, sir."

"If I catch you using your own blood in a potion for my class again," he said, startling her with the sudden change to their conversation, "I will have you prepping scarab beetles until your fingers are numb. Do I make myself clear?"

"I was only trying to-"

"I didn't ask why you were doing it, I asked if I was clear that you were not to do it again."

And just like that, the common ground she had felt and- dare she think it- camaraderie, was gone. "Transparently so."

"Then you may leave."

So she did.

 **A/N: So, I'm taking a short break on my other stories to write this one- but I will not be abandoning them. I just twindled a bit on enthusiasm, but I still love Letters to No One and will be continuing it shortly. Just give me a week or two to chill. If I force it now, I'll lose all interest. Sort of what happened with Suscepit.**

 **I really hope you like this. It's set during fifth year, right after Dumbledore saved Trelawney from being thrown out the castle. Literally, within the week that happened. I have quite a few of the pairings planned out, two or three of which I have especial pride for, but I'm open to suggestions for some of the more minor characters. And Remus. I don't know who to put with Remus because I do NOT like Tonks. I just don't, though I don't have a real good reason why. No Wolfstar. I have plans for Sirius... dun Dun DUN! Also, the face claim for Daphne Greengrass is a french actress by the name of Lea Seydoux- but only her from Beauty and the Beast (not the Disney version).**

 **Let me know opinions, suggestions, and theories in the towel section down below. Dasvidanya, Mia.**

 **Also, slight OOC for certain characters... Snape being one.**


	2. A Sneak and a Phoenix

Chapter two: A Sneak and a Phoenix

Hermione went back to the Gryffindor common room to tell Harry about Umbridge- glancing around as she went for a Glow- to find the awful spectacle that was Ron and Lavender. The freshly formed couple was sprawled on a love seat in a tangle of unidentifiable limbs, with sounds coming from them that Ron often made when eating. It was one of those horrifying things in life one couldn't look away from, some watching the two in paralyzed astonishment- others in disgusted disbelief. She made a face at them, finding Harry in the corner of the room on the windowsill; looking out into the eclipsing rain that she hadn't noticed during their classes. She maneuvered through the onlookers to sit next to him, perching herself next to where he was propped against the large window. He didn't twitch, the rolling beads of the downpour on the glass reflecting on his face- his mind no doubt abuzz with the surprising development of his soulmate. She waited a few minutes, the silence punctuated by the hum of the full common room and the echoing silence of their windowsill that acted like an isolating cove.

"So," she started once she felt she'd waited a sufficient amount of time, "Daphne Greengrass."

He still didn't move, his verdant eyes not flinching from their vacant stare, but acknowledged her presence and voiced topic with a simple, "I don't even know anything about her."

He sounded so despondent. She looked from him to the window, realizing he wasn't looking at anything in particular as all there was to see were their reflections. "She's nice," she supplied.

"She's a Slytherin," he told her, as if to disprove her statement.

"So is Professor Snape."

There was a ghost of a smile on his face and he vaguely glanced at her before looking back to the glass window of their tower. "Probably not the best example you could have given; Snape's a git."

" _Professor_ Snape," she corrected without conscious thought, "was visited by Umbridge while I was there."

She had his attention now, his eyes jolting to hers with wide interest. "What did she want?"

"Veritaserum," her voice dropped, their heads bending towards each other to block anyone out who might have overheard. "She wants to find out what you and Professor Dumbledore are hiding."

He stood up immediately, all thoughts of Glows and potions out of his head with a sentence. "We have to tell him, warn the Order, tell the DA."

She pulled him back into the seat by his hand. "No,we can't. It could get back to her that we know, and it's likely he will know anyway. I'm sure Professor Snape will tell him if he doesn't. Besides, don't you remember what Professor McGonagall's been telling you all year?"

He blinked at her with a blank look on his face that made it obvious he didn't.

"She has too much power over the school," Hermione said in a whisper. "If she went to Professor Snape so freely, it's likely she has permission from Fudge to do it."

"We can't just not tell anyone," he argued. "What about the DA?"

"We can't. The best we can do is tell people not to trust her and not to take anything she gives them. Professor Snape said I was only to tell you, and I agree with him."

He eyed her cynically. "Who's your Glow?"

Hermione sighed, "I know what you're thinking and it isn't Professor Snape. Though, you could probably do with speaking to Daphne."

"What for?"

"I don't know, because she's your soulmate?"

"That doesn't mean anything," he insisted harshly.

And that was that. Or so she thought. But while Harry and Hermione played no part in the new and strange romances that seemed to be popping up around the castle, didn't mean they were immune to the displays. Ginny broke Michael Corner's heart by kissing Neville in the middle of the Great Hall, though Ron was too busy kissing Lavender to see it, Fred's girlfriend Angelina seemed to actually be destined for George- though there were rumors that they'd decided to share her- and Fred's Glow Katie Bell seemed very content in her own long distance relationship with Oliver Wood. It obviously irked Umbridge, as evidenced by her even more than usually pinched face, but there was an old law supposedly declared by Merlin himself that forbid the interfering with soulmates. A law, history books said, King Arthur used when he saved Lancelot and Guinevere from being executed.

This was tested during the fourth year Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Potions class when Luna told Professor Snape how lovely his Glow was. Nothing came of this, of course, and the Potions Master seemed very keen on avoiding her at any and all costs. But Luna only ever smiled her serene smile and replied, "He'll come around."

Firenze seemed to be a vast improvement from Trelawney in Divination. Harry and Hermione spent hours trying to find alternative ways to resist Veritaserum to no avail, and hiding from the flocks of students trying to find out who Harry's soulmate is. Everyday there were cries of girls saying that they were his Glow, or secretly engaged and with child (nevermind that Harry was fifteen), but no one seemed to put much stock in those claims aside from Umbridge. She seemed to want to know more than anyone, going as far as keeping him behind after class to demand he tell her- which he was within his lawful right to refuse to do.

March bled into April, and the demands for answers and the wild theories bled into a collective acceptance that perhaps Hermione was Harry's Glow- as they were much closer since the entire soulmate ordeal began. Hermione hadn't spoken to Daphne in their shared classes, and as far as she could tell neither had Harry. It seemed she was the only one who knew who Harry's real Glow was.

They kept up with their DA meetings, the new romances serving to strengthen and help each lesson in different ways, and they had just scheduled one for the next afternoon when there was a crowd in the Entrance Hall. There was a very public and very amusing falling out between Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson, ending with the pug-nosed girl slapping Malfoy and him walking away in anger.

She then stormed up to a familiar looking third year and drew her hand back to slap her as well, when Daphne stepped forward and grabbed her wrist. This was her sister, Astoria.

"Don't," she hissed lowly, though everyone heard her.

She shoved Pansy's arm away and pulled her sister with her, leading her through the gathered crowd. Harry had been standing next to Hermione, watching the scene with conflicting feelings, and he found himself walking around the back of the assemblage to follow them.

"Stay away from Draco," he heard her voice echo off the walls. He could tell it was hers. "Glow or not, I want you to keep your distance."

"Daph, I'm not a child."

"No," Daphne consented, "but there's a world of maturing to be done between the ages of thirteen and fifteen."

He came into view of them, and they turned to him. She really was _very_ pretty, he thought in spite of himself when they locked eyes. There was a pale pink glow glittering around her, the same shade his potion had been, tracing her golden hair and green accessoried uniform. He wondered if it would always be there, or if it would fade, and unsure quite which he would prefer.

"Astoria, go back to the common room."

The other girl argued, but he couldn't say what she replied with. He'd told himself he didn't care what any Glow said, that this was a Slytherin. He'd silently agreed to keep his distance, and she seemed perfectly fine to have done the same. So why then was he standing in front of her and waiting to speak.

"Harry Potter."

His eyes refocused at his name. "Daphne Greengrass."

She smiled, and he would swear the the Glow brightened for a slight moment. "I'm sorry. It's just, I've only now realized that I've never said your name aloud."

This surprised him, knowing all too well the far corners his fame tended to reach. Though, to be honest he'd never said hers before either. He'd never had cause to in the five years he'd known it. He'd never even spoken to her before now.

"Say it as much as you like," fell out of his mouth before he realized he was speaking. He mentally threw his hands up and scoffed at what a berk he sounded like.

But she laughed. A giggle, really. She giggled lightly at him, her hand covering her mouth as if by habit or instinct. He flushed with embarrassment at the sound, while at the same time feeling proud he'd caused it. He felt his stance straighten.

"It's rather strange, isn't it?" She asked, a leftover smile still on her face. "I mean, I don't really know the first thing about you that isn't splattered over the tabloids, and I'm sure you've never even considered the fact that you don't know me either."

"Yes, well, you're a Slytherin," he said by way of explanation the way he had with Hermione.

Her face fell slightly as if having expected his response, but at the same time had been disappointed. It made something twist in his stomach at seeing it. "Yes," she said with a dispirited smile, "and you're a Gryffindor, but I never took you as unintelligent, Harry."

He didn't like hearing her say his name. It made him feel uncomfortable in the way it sounded right. "Wait," he said when she turned to leave. She stopped and glanced over her shoulder, her too far apart eyes seeming curious. "I'm sorry. I-I really don't know anything about you. So that's- that girl was your sister then? Do you have any other siblings?"

She turned just barely to face him again. She was a girl of many smiles, he realized, and this one had the air as though she were only indulging him. He didn't like it.

"No," she said, sounding somewhat amused. "It's just us. What about you? Are you very close with your family?"

Part of him was surprised she knew he lived with family, before the part of him that was always conscious of his celebrity status sighed. "Not exactly," he said, thinking about what the Dursley's might say if they had heard the question. Outraged babbling, most likely, with a few identifiable _freak_ s and _boy_ s thrown in for good measure.

"That's a shame," she said.

"Well I have Hermione," he told her quickly, not wanting to see what her pitying smile looked like. "And Ron, of course. They're better than any family."

She turned more towards him. "That sounds wonderful. They do seem rather loyal, and I like Hermione fairly well from the classes we share, but I've never really talked to either of them."

"You should," he offered, "tomorrow. I-" he paused, uncharacteristically thinking before he did something reckless. "Well, you see I teach something of a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts class sometimes."

Her face brightened suddenly and she beamed at him, making the Glow brighten immensely- and almost blindingly. "Really? That sounds wonderful! It does seem like something you would be well equipped for," she giggled again. "And much better than that awful Umbridge's class."

It warmed him to think that she didn't like Umbridge any more than he did, and he found himself grinning back at her with more conviction at what he was about to say. "Well, you should come. Tomorrow night, we're having a lesson. I've been teaching them how to produce a Patronus Charm. They-"

"Ward off dementors," she finished excitedly. "I know, I've been trying to teach myself in my spare time, but, well, I'm not exactly the best at that sort of thing."

"Well, if you come, I could teach you too."

"The-well, I don't suppose there will be any others from my house, will there?"

True, she would be the only Slytherin. "Well, no," he admitted, "but no one will argue, I promise. I mean, it's not like I'm asking Malfoy is it?"

He suddenly felt nervous. She'd called him Draco to her sister, suppose they were friends and he just passive aggressively insulted him. But she laughed. "No, I suppose you aren't."

"Well, meet me in the Entrance Hall after dinner," he said breathlessly. "I'll take you there. Only I can tell people about the lessons, being the teacher, but Hermione's charmed the list we all signed and I'd rather not push my luck."

"Knowing her reputation it would be something awful," she agreed. "I will see you tomorrow then. Good afternoon, Harry."

"G-good afternoon, Daphne."

Just as Harry had promised Daphne, though at the time he hadn't been so sure, no one argued when he escorted Daphne and her sister into the Room of Requirement. But everyone _did_ stare. Hermione looked very smug and pleased with herself, smirking at him from near the door with a look that told him he would definitely be explaining later. He brushed off any comments, though it seemed the Greengrass sisters weren't very hated in terms of the other Slytherins.

"I think it's wonderful, Harry," Hermione had said to get them started. "Really, it shows that not every ally will be in Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw. Right, everyone?"

At her pointed comment, everyone grumbled their version of an acceptance aside from Ron, who pulled Hermione and Harry aside so that the three could have a private moment to discuss; from which he came away looking very put out and Hermione helped welcome them to the group.

"It needs to be happy," Harry reminded everyone an hour later. "The happiest memory you have. Neville, you're getting it. Try something else."

"I'm trying!"

"Don't be such a killjoy," Cho told him, her swan gliding around her elegantly. "Aren't they pretty?"

It was strange, that he no longer felt giddy in her presence the way he had the year or even a month before, and found himself annoyed that she wasn't taking the lesson seriously. But, just when he was going to say something, Daphne beat him to it- her very faint bear cub bumbling around her feet.

"They're not meant to be pretty," she said very matter-of-fact. "They're supposed to protect you."

Cho looked angry for a moment, but Harry moved on to Daphne. "What I really need to do," he told her, crouching to examine her Patronus, "is to find a boggart. That's how I learned, but with all the different people-"

"Those are scary!" Lavender Brown said, trying to make something of the silver whisps coming out of her wand. "I like this better."

"How are you doing?" He asked Daphne quietly, her Glow not having faded from before. "I mean, it's okay, isn't it?"

She grinned, "It's wonderful. You really are a great teacher. Is that what you want to-"

The doors to the Room of Requirement opened, but no one seemed to have entered or left. Harry felt a tugging at the bottom of his robes and looked down to see Dobby, who was wearing eight of Hermione's tea cozy looking hats that she'd made the year before and a most worried expression- his big eyes glistening.

"Hi, Dobby! Wh-what's wrong?"

Everyone was watching the house elf now, the last remaining Patronus attempts having disappeared; leaving the room darker than before. "Harry Potter, sir..." he squeaked, "Harry Potter, sir, Dobby has come to warn you... the house elves have been warned not to tell..."

There were whispers of panic throughout the room, people wondering what was going on. Harry knelt down immediately, grabbing the elf's tiny arm when he tried to punish himself. "Dobby, what's happened?"

"Harry Potter... she... she..."

Umbridge. Harry looked up at the students watching them with eyes of terror. He'd started this, and now everyone was going to get in trouble because of him. "Umbridge is coming," he said quietly. "WHAT ARE YOU ALL WAITING FOR? RUN!"

Everyone began running in different directions, trying to get out all at once and being swept up in the alarm. Daphne pulled Astoria to her, Ginny and Neville held on so not to get separated, Ron and Lavender were each trying to get them _selves_ out without concern for the other.

Harry swept Dobby into his grip and tried to fight through the crowd to get Daphne and Astoria out, being the last out and slamming the doors shut behind him. "Dobby, this is an order. Go back down to the kitchens and if she asks if you warned me, lie and say no. I forbid you to hurt yourself."

"Oh, thank you, Harry Potter, sir!" The elf cried before popping away.

"Harry, I have to get Astoria out of here," Daphne pleaded.

He pulled her by the hand, running towards Moaning Myrtle's bathroom as fast as he could that she could keep up to. "Come on! No one ever goes to Myrtle's bathroom. We'll be safe to hide there until it's clear."

"Myrtle's bathroom?" Astoria asked beside Daphne. " _Moaning_ Myrtle? What have you been doing in the girl's lavatory?"

He thought back to he and Ron being hesitant about it their second year and almost smiled at the memory. "It's rather a great place to make potions."

They were almost there, and he thought he saw Myrtle's floating, depressed form, when there was a scream and Daphne's hand was ripped from his. He spun around to find her on the ground, skidding to a stop. Harry pushed his soulmate's sister towards the bathroom. "Go!"

"Trip Jinx, Potter," Malfoy cackled, coming into view from behind a tapestry. When he saw Harry helping Daphne up his face dropped and he glanced around almost frantically. "Daph? Why are you... where's... go, hurry, before-"

"Potter," came Umbridge's voice, cutting off Malfoy's. She came bustling around the far corner, breathless but with a delighted smile on her face that cut off when she saw Daphne. "I'm very disappointed in you, Miss Greengrass, being caught up in Potter's mischief. Well done, Draco. Fifty points to Slytherin. Now, go see if you can find anyone else to round up. Anyone out of breath. Have Miss Parkinson check the girl's bathrooms. You two, Potter and Greengrass, will be coming with me to the headmaster's office."

She didn't wait for them to start walking, grabbing one of their arms and pulling them hard behind her like a dog on a leash. Harry could feel bruises forming on his arm and hoped that she was being worse on his arm than Daphne's. Speaking of, she looked terrified- looking to him with large, blue pools of panic. He tried to convey how sorry he was, that he hadn't meant for this to happen, when a sick feeling hit his stomach and he had the thought that Umbridge had found them the day after he told Daphne about it. This was quickly squashed when he remembered how genuinely startled Umbridge had been to see her there. They reached the headmaster's gargoyle statue in minutes.

The office was full of people. Dumbledore looked perfectly calm, as though having asked them all to tea with the tips of his fingers brought together in a serene pose. McGonagall was standing erect behind him with intensely pursed lips. Cornelius Fudge was rocking backward and forward on his toes in front of the fireplace looking entirely too pleased with himself. Percy was sitting just behind him, scribbling notes and looking happier than Harry could remember seeing him when he'd become Head Boy. Kinglsey Shacklebolt and a man Harry didn't recognize seemed to be guarding the door. Everyone looked up when Umbridge dragged them in and shoved them into chairs.

"I'll thank you not to manhandle my students, Dolores," McGonagall said acrimoniously, but no one paid much attention to her except for Daphne- who seemed surprised at McGonagall referring to both students as her own.

"Well, well," Fudge said gleefully.

"They were heading towards Gryffindor Tower, I'm sure of it," Umbridge told him with indecent excitement in her voice. "The Malfoy boy cornered them."

"Did he?" Fudge asked appreciatively. "I must remember to tell Lucius. And you, Miss Greengrass. What will Marinus say about this?"

Harry assumed Marinus was her father, and the fear in her eyes flickered- the Glow darkening just barely and making Harry want to hex the Minister for incurring it. But she seemed to grit her teeth and jut out her chin. "Likely he'll be disappointed I let a Trip Jinx catch me. He's raised me to be smarter than that."

Harry thought that he might be rather glad his Glow chose her. Fudge tutted at her, circling the two of them in their chairs. "Well, then, Potter... I suppose you know why you're here?"

He had intended to say 'yes' very forcefully, but at the last second he caught sight of Dumbledore- who was not looking at him, but staring at a fixed spot over Harry's shoulder. He shook his head a fraction of an inch to each side, and Harry thought better.

"No, sir," he said, not sure why. "I do not."

Fudge was obviously taken back. "You do not?" He asked, sarcasm lacing his tone. "So neither you nor Miss Greengrass have any idea why you've been brought to the headmaster's office?"

"No, sir," he repeated.

Daphne widened her eyes slightly in innocent curiosity. Harry watched her in awe. "It must be very important if _you're_ here, Minister. Is everything quite alright?"

Fudge's cheeks pinkened. "No, Miss Greengrass, they are not. Are you saying then, Potter, that you are not aware that you have broken any school rules?"

"School rules?" Harry asked, following Daphne's exemplary lead. "No."

"Or Ministry decrees," Fudge demanded, the pink darkening until his face was entirely red.

"Not that I'm aware of."

Umbridge piped up from behind them. "Then why were you caught running?"

Daphne answered before Harry could. "Harry was teaching me a game that muggle children play called tag. It really was exhilarating. I was 'it' you see and-"

"So it's news to you both," Fudge cut her off, his voice now thick with anger, "that an illegal student organization has been discovered within this school?"

Harry was still surprised at Daphne's answer, curious as to how she knew about playing tag, but answered blandly, "Yes, it is."

Again, Umbridge piped up when it seemed Fudge was about to loose his temper. "Perhaps this will go more smoothly if I fetch our informant."

Harry was incredibly relieved when Umbridge left rather than reach for Daphne, despite having figured it wasn't her. Minutes ticked by on the rather loud clock and Harry and Daphne exchanged glances that were only slightly less than a conversation. She was scared, but she was with him. He was her Glow. He was sorry, and hated that he'd pulled her into this.

When Umbridge came back she was pulling Cho's curly haired friend with her, Marietta, hiding her face in her hands. "Don't be scared, dear, don't be frightened. The minister is very pleased with you. He'll tell your mother what a good girl you've been. Marietta's mother," Umbridge told Fudge, "is Madame Edgecombe from the Department of Magical Transportation. She's been helping us monitor the Hogwarts fires, you know."

"Jolly good," Fudge said heartily as Daphne's eyes found Harry's again in a clear question of: does she know anything? Harry nodded as slightly as Dumbledore had shaken his head before. "...galloping gargoyles!"

They both looked over to where Marietta had raised her head and Fudge leapt backwards in shock, nearly landing in the fire. Marietta gave a wail and pulled the neck of her robes up as high as they would go, but not before the whole room had seen that her face was horribly disfigured by a series of close-set purple pustules that spread across her nose and cheeks to form the word: SNEAK.

Daphne's eyes widened at the display and Harry knew she was likely thinking to the day before when they talked about Hermione charming a list of DA members. She'd been right when she said that Hermione's reputation meant something awful.

"Nevermind the spots now," Umbridge said impatiently. "Just tell the Minister-"

But Marietta wailed again and tightened her grip on the robes, shaking her head frantically. "Very well, you silly girl," Umbridge snapped, turning a sickly smile to Harry, " _I'll_ tell them. You see, Minister, Miss Edgecombe came to my office shortly after dinner this evening and told me she had something to tell me. She said that if I proceeded to the Room of Requirement, I would find out something to my advantage. I questioned her a little further and she admitted that there was to be some sort of meeting there..."

Harry wasn't sure he loathed anyone as much as he hated Marietta at that moment, giving her the dirtiest look he could muster.

"Isn't there a counter jinx," Fudge demanded, "so the girl can speak freely?"

"I've yet to find one." Harry was proud of Hermione's jinxing ability and Daphne's eyes looked mirthful at hearing that as well. "You'll remember, Minister, that I sent you a report back in October that Potter had met a number of fellow students in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade-"

"And what is your evidence for that?" Professor McGonagall cut in.

"I have testimony from Willy Widdershins, Minerva, who happened to be in the bar at the time. He was heavily bandaged, it is true, but his hearing was quite unimpaired," Umbridge said smugly. "He heard every word Potter said and hastened straight to the school to report-"

"Oh, so _that's_ why he wasn't prosecuted for setting up all those regurgitating toilets!" Professor McGonagall said sourly, her eyebrows raised. "What an interesting insight into our justice system!"

Daphne snorted, an entirely unladylike sound that made Harry grin at her, her mouth behind her hand as it had been the day before when she'd laughed at him. A portrait of a corpulent man on the wall behind Dumbledore's desk bellowed, "Blatant corruption! The Ministry did not cut deals with petty criminals in my day, no sir, they did not!"

"Thank you, Fortescue, that will do," Dumbledore said softly. The man shut up at once.

"The purpose of that meeting," Umbridge continued her earlier story, "was to persuade the students to join an illegal society, whose aim was to learn spells and curses the Ministry has decided inappropriate for school age-"

"I think you'll find you're wrong there, Dolores," Dumbledore told her quietly, peering over his half moon spectacles perched halfway down his crooked nose.

Harry stared at the man, unsure of how he could talk Harry out of it this time. If Willy Widdershins had indeed heard every word he'd said, there was no escape for him. Fudge seemed to sense this, jumping on immediately, with no less glee than when Harry had entered.

"Oho! Yes, let us hear this year's cock-and-bull story designed to keep Mr. Potter out of trouble! Go on then, Dumbledore, go on- Willy Widdershins was lying, was he? Or was it Potter's identical twin in the Hog's Head that day? Or is there just the usual, simple explanation involving a reversal of time, a dead man coming back to life, and a couple of invisible dementors?"

Percy Weasley let out a laugh and commended the Minister on his wit. Harry quickly imagined kicking him in the face. Twice. Once for that comment, and the second for breaking Mrs. Weasley's heart. But it seemed that, Dumbledore was smiling too.

"Cornelius, I do not deny- and nor, I am sure, does Harry- that he was in the Hog's Head that day, nor that he was trying to recruit students to a Defense Against the Dark Arts group. I am merely pointing out that Dolores is quite wrong to suggest such a group was, at the time, illegal." At this, Daphne began beaming- obviously understanding what the headmaster was saying faster than Harry was. "If you remember, the Ministry decree banning all student societies was not put into effect until two days after Harry's Hogsmeade meeting, so he was not breaking any rules in the Hog's Head at all."

Everyone stared at him, Percy and Fudge both looking as though he'd slapped them in the face with something remarkably heavy. Umbridge, of course, was the first to recover, smiling sweetly as if she hadn't just had her argument handed back to her.

"That all very fine, Headmaster," she said, everyone turning to look at her, "but we are now nearly six months on from the introductions of Educational Decree Number Twenty-four. If the first meeting was not illegal, all those that have happened since certainly are."

"They certainly _would_ be," Dumbledore said with polite interest as he surveyed her over the tops of his interlocked fingers. Everyone looked back to him, enraptured with each new development. "If they _had_ continued after the decree came into effect. Have you any evidence that these meetings continued?"

As Dumbledore spoke, Harry heard a rustling sort of sound behind him and thought for a moment that perhaps Kingsley had whispered something. He could have sworn too that he felt something brush against his side, a gentle something like a draft or bird wings, but thought it was just his imagination until he saw how Daphne had stiffened as well. She glanced over worriedly.

"Evidence?" Umbridge repeated with that horrible, wide toadlike smile. "Have you not been listening, Dumbledore? Why do you think Miss Edgecombe is here?"

"Oh, can she tell us about six months' worth of meetings? I was under the impression that she was merely reporting a meeting tonight."

"Miss Edgecombe," Umbridge said sharply, "tell us how long these meetings have been going on, dear. You can simply nod or shake your head, I'm sure that won't make the spots worse. Have they been happening regularly over the last six months?"

Harry felt his stomach plummet at the same time his heart jumped to his throat and Daphne looked over at him uncertainly, seeing the same nervousness in his eyes that he could see she was also experiencing. On his behalf.

"Just nod or shake your head, dear," Umbridge cooed. "Come on, now, that won't activate the jinx further..."

Everyone was watching Marietta's face, though only her eyes were visible between the pulled up robes and her curly fringe. Perhaps it was a trick of the firelight, but her eyes looked oddly blank, and she shook her head. He could hear Daphne breathe in sharply at the sight and Harry looked over to her, but she was watching Marietta still.

"I don't think you understood the question, did you, dear? I'm asking whether you've been going to these meetings for the past months? You have, haven't you?"

Again, she shook her head.

"What do you mean by that, dear?" Umbridge asked, no longer with a spuriously sweet voice.

"I should think her meaning is quite clear," Professor McGonagall said harshly. "There have been no secret meetings for the past six months, is that correct, Miss Edgecombe?"

Marietta nodded.

"But there was a meeting tonight!" Umbridge said furiously. "There was a meeting, Miss Edgecombe, you told me about it, in the Room of Requirement! And Potter was the leader, was he not, Potter organized it, Potter- _why are you shaking your head, girl_?"

"Well, usually," Daphne said quietly, looking worriedly at how close Umbridge was inching towards Marietta, "when a person shakes their head they mean 'no'."

Umbridge twisted her face angrily, but McGonagall's lips twitched as though she tried not to smile at the blonde- adding to her comment. "Yes, thank you, Miss Greengrass. So, Dolores, unless Miss Edgecombe is using some sort of sign language not yet known to humans-"

Professor Umbridge seized Marietta, pulled her around to face her, and began shaking her very hard. Daphne was on her feet instantly, backing away from the scene with a scandalized shriek. Harry came over to her, not knowing exactly why, only that he felt he should. Professor Dumbledore was on his feet as well, knobby wand raised. Kingsley started forward and Umbridge leapt away from Marietta, waving her hands as though they'd been burned.

"I cannot allow you to manhandle my students, Dolores," Dumbledore said, and for the first time, he looked angry. The shadows of the room seemed deeper than they had been, and McGonagall stood near Harry and Daphne protectively.

"You want to calm yourself," Kingsley said in his deep, slow voice. "You don't want to get yourself into trouble now."

"No," Umbridge said breathlessly. "I mean, yes- you're right, Shacklebolt. I-I forgot myself."

Marietta was standing exactly as she had been, not seeming to have been distressed when Umbridge grabbed her- nor relieved at being released with her eyes still blank and looking straight ahead. Daphne's sharp intake from before had him suspicious of that and the whisper he'd have sworn he heard, and the breeze that had passed between he and Daphne.

Fudge looked back and forth between everyone, his eyes landing fearfully on Dumbledore who had yet to reseat himself. "Dolores, the meeting tonight. The one we know definitely happened."

Umbridge nodded, still seeming pulling herself together and trying to seem as though she hadn't just lost her cool. "Yes, yes... well, Miss Edgecombe tipped me off and I proceeded at once to the seventh floor, accompanied by a few _trustworthy_ students. It appears they were forewarned, however, because when we reached the seventh floor they were running in every which direction. It matters not, though. I have all of their names here, you see."

To Harry's horror, that was only just slightly alleviated by Daphne's hand finding his, Umbridge pulled out a list of names that had been pinned upon the Room of Requirement's wall and handed it to Fudge.

"The moment I saw Potter's name on the list, I knew what we were dealing with," she said triumphantly.

And there, at the top in Hermione's flourished writing, was _Dumbledore's Army_. Fudge's eyes widened at it and he sputtered, "See what they've named themselves?"

Dumbledore gingerly took the parchment from him and looked very hard at the writing, not saying anything for a moment as though unable to speak. Then, very slowly, he began to smile. "Well, the game is up then," he said cheerfully. "Would you like a written confession from me, Cornelius, or will a statement in front of these witnesses suffice?"

"S-statement?" Fudge stuttered, not understanding. Neither did Harry, but Kingsley and McGonagall obviously did- looking to each other.

"Dumbledore's Army, Cornelius," Dumbledore replied, still smiling. He glanced to Harry, and Harry thought he saw pride there. "Not Potter's Army. _Dumbledore's Army_."

"But- but-" understanding blazing suddenly in Fudge's face and his eyes widened comically. "You?"

"That's right," Dumbledore said pleasantly.

"You organized this?"

"I did."

"You recruited these students for- for your army? To undermine me?"

Dumbledore grinned and nodded. "Tonight was supposed to be the first meeting, merely to see whether they would be interested in joining me. I see now that it was a mistake to invite Miss Edgecombe, of course."

Marietta nodded and Fudge's chest swelled, a manic glee lighting his eyes. "You _have_ been plotting against me!"

"That's right," Dumbledore said happily.

"NO!" It finally dawned on Harry what the headmaster was trying to do, and he couldn't let it happen. "Professor Dumbledore!"

Daphne's grip tightened and he remembered that she was holding his hand, briefly looking at their interlocked fingers in a daze. "Harry," she whispered, "don't. He's doing it for you."

"Well, well, well," Fudge was saying, "I came here to have Harry expelled, and instead-"

"Instead you get to arrest me," Dumbledore said, smiling. "It's like losing a Knut and finding a Galleon, isn't it?"

Fudge called for Percy, demanding that he take his notes and send a duplicate to The Daily Prophet for a morning printing. The door slammed behind the Weasley boy as he dashed out like the lapdog he was. Fudge looked back to Dumbledore. "You'll be escorted back to the Ministry, then, where you will be formally charged and then sent to Azkaban to await trial."

The thought of Dumbledore in a lonely, damp cell that Sirius had told him about left Harry feeling cold- the way his mentor would be soon- and he wanted to stop this, but Daphne's hand was warm in his to remind him not to.

"Ah," Dumbledore said gently, "yes. Yes, I thought we might hit that little snag."

"Snag?" Fudge asked, still grinning. "I see no snag at all."

"Yes, well," Dumbledore said apologetically, "you see, I'm afraid I do."

"Oh really?"

"Well- it's just that you seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to- what is the phrase?- 'come quietly'. I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course- but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."

Umbridge's face was growing steadily redder, she looked as though she was being filled with boiling water. Harry could imagine the steam of a Pepper Up potion pouring out of her ears merely from rage. Fudge stared at Dumbledore with a very amusing expression on his face, as though he had just been stunned by a sudden blow and could not quite believe it had happened. He made a small choking noise and then whirled around to look at Kingsley and the man with short gray hair, who alone of everyone in the room had remained entirely silent so far. The latter gave Fudge a reassuring nod and moved forward a little, away from the wall. Harry saw his hand- the one not currently being crushed in Daphne's death grip- drift, almost casually, toward his pocket.

"Don't be silly, Dawlish," Dumbledore said kindly. "I'm sure you are an excellent Auror, I seem to remember that you achieved 'Outstanding' in all your N.E.W.T.s, but if you attempt to 'bring me in' by force, I will have to hurt you."

The man called Dawlish seemed to take a step back, glancing helplessly to the Minister- who was still in a state of stupefaction. Fudge pulled himself out of it and sneered. "So, you think you'll take Dawlish, Shacklebolt, Dolores, and myself single-handedly do you?"

"Merlin, no," he said pleasantly, "not unless you are foolish enough to force me to."

"He won't be single-handed," McGonagall said loudly, plunging her hand into her robes for her wand.

"Yes," Dumbledore said sharply, "he will. Minerva, Hogwarts needs you."

"Enough of this foolishness," Fudge said, obviously getting more nervous about his offensive stance. "Dawlish, Kinglsey, take him!"

A streak of silver light flashed around the room. There was a bang like a gunshot, and the floor trembled. A hand grabbed the scruff of Harry's neck and forced him down on the floor as a second silver flash went off — several of the portraits yelled, Fawkes screeched, and a cloud of dust filled the air. A form next to him, whom he was able to identify as Daphne by her Glow, groaned and he tried to reach for her. She was reaching back, fingers tightening around his own. Coughing in the dust, Harry saw a dark figure fall to the ground with a crash in front of him. There was a shriek and a thud and somebody cried, "No!" Then the sound of breaking glass, frantically scuffling footsteps, a groan — and silence.

It was Professor McGonagall who had shoved everyone out of the way, an unconscious Marietta laying there as well. Dust was still floating gently down through the air onto them. Panting slightly, Harry saw a very tall figure moving toward them.

"Are you all right?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes," Professor McGonagall said for them, helping Marietta up while Harry and Daphne stood.

The dust was clearing and Harry took in the destruction. Dumbledore's desk was over turned, Fudge, Umbridge, Dawlish, and Kingsley lay unconscious on the floor, and Fawkes gliding above their heads smoothly- singing.

"I do apologize, Miss Greengrass," Dumbledore said in earnest. "I'm sure this isn't quite what you had in mind for your evening."

"Quite alright, Professor," she said politely, not having let go of Harry's hand and examining the wreckage with wide eyes. "Quite alright."

"We only have a few moments," Dumbledore said, "or I'd have like to know the full story of your Glow. Rarely have I seen them so bright. You must remember to act as though no time has passed, tat they were only knocked down. I admit that Kingsley was rather quick on the uptake. Minerva, please commend him on the job to Miss Edgecombe's memory."

McGonagall moved closer to her friend, "Where will you go, Albus? Grimmauld Place?"

"Oh no," Dumbledore said with a grim smile. "I am not leaving to go into hiding. Fudge will soon wish he'd never dislodged me from Hogwarts, I promise you..."

Harry suddenly felt that he should say something, apologize perhaps, but all that came out was the headmaster's name. Daphne stepped closer to him and his side warmed with her there. Dumbledore didn't wait to see if his tongue would find him.

"Listen to me, Harry," he said urgently, "you must study Occlumency as hard as you can, do you understand me? Do everything Professor Snape tells you and practice it particularly every night before sleeping so that you can close your mind to those dreams- you will understand why soon enough, but you must promise me-"

Dawlish stirred and Fawkes swooped low towards Dumbledore. The headmaster grabbed hold of the phoenix' tail and, in a brilliant burst of light and a thundering sound, was gone.

 **A/N: So, I know most of this was Harry, and I promise it's Hermione's story, but it just sort of flowed this way. But I like the parts with Daphne and Harry. I love writing them, it's so adorable and awkward and perfect. And while I absolutely DESPISE Dumbledore, I like writing him okay-ish. Next chapter we'll be back to Hermione, as it really will be HER story. Promise. And before long we will find out who Hermione's soulmate is. Any theories?**

 **Dasvidanya, Mia**


	3. Paintings Long Forgotten

Chapter three: Paintings Long Forgotten

The school seemed to darken as Harry and McGonagall walked Daphne to the Slytherin common room, Harry and Daphne walking a few feet behind the teacher- who seemed to be letting them talk privately and not saying a word. When she walked, Daphne clasped her hands in front of her and seemed as though she were only on a leisurely stroll. She had graceful hands, he thought; though he didn't usually have thoughts like that. It sounded like something a lovesick romantic fool would think in a story book, or perhaps something Luna would say in her way. They were, though, graceful- with fingers that seemed to be disproportionately long by a joint.

"Your Dumbledore," she said, looking over in charming detachment, "is rather an odd character, isn't he? I've never spoken to him before tonight, but he's rather intense."

Harry laughed lightly, looking down at his feet as they walked. "Yeah, I'm sure he gets that a lot. He's brilliant, though."

She nodded, looking down to her own feet. "He seems it. H-he'll be alright, though, won't he?"

"They won't be able to keep him away for long," he told her, a sick feeling settling in his stomach as he said so. "He'll be back, you'll see."

"Severus!" McGonagall called, catching Snape's dark form around the corner. "Good that you're here," she said in rushed, low tone. "It's happened, he's gone."

Snape's black eyes glanced to Harry when she said this and he felt even worse. How many others would blame Harry for the loss of their headmaster? Snape's eyes moved on to Daphne next to him, who had straightened her posture where Harry hadn't realized it could be straightened. "Miss Greengrass, what-"

"She was there with Mr. Potter," McGonagall told him.

She stepped forward and whispered something that Harry couldn't make out, but it made an expression of understanding take hold of Snape's face and he could guess it about their Glow. Daphne moved to stand closer to him, and he resisted the urge to grab her hand the way he had for the majority of the night.

"I see," he said simply, his tone not betraying anything. "Come along, then, Miss Greengrass."

She walked over to her Head of House and turned back to Harry, who was being falling behind McGonagall who had already begun walking away.

"Good night, Harry. And, tonight was strangely fun."

Startled, he stammered, "G-good night, D-Daphne."

*

Somehow, by the next morning everyone in the entire school knew the story of Dumbledore's tremendous escape and his defeat of two Aurors, the High Inquisitor, the Minister himself, and his Junior Assistant. The school seemed to be buzzing with gossip, though there no doubts with anyone that their true headmaster would return. In the words of Ernie Macmillan, "They couldn't keep him away our second year and they won't be able to this time."

The only shining light was the tantrum Umbridge had been rumored to have upon discovering she couldn't get back into the Headmaster's office. But the amusement of that was short lived as students began being called into her own office and coming out with strangely vague expressions, each spouting off potentially embarrassing secrets. She'd started with Harry, calling him into her office for tea. Hermione had continued searching for a way around the Veritaserum, after realizing Harry's Occlumency lessons weren't going any better than they had before- but hadn't found any luck. It seemed that, the smarter students, had the sense to fake drinking and just lying to make it seem that the potion had worked, but it soon became obvious that it wasn't going to deter their new 'Headmistress'.

It happened on a weekend, at breakfast. Umbridge was sitting high in the Headmaster's stolen seat, her beady eyes scanning the tables with a calculating scrutiny that made Hermione uneasy. Like she was looking for something in particular as the students trickled in and took their seats. Hermione looked around as well, looking for whatever Umbridge was looking for, as it couldn't be good. It was hard to think with Ron's loud chewing, having not hesitated in piling food onto his plate.

"Ronald," she scolded, "would you please act like a human and not eat like some beast?"

There was no answer, but the sounds had stopped and she'd glanced back to Umbridge- who was looking at their table in wait- when she heard Lavender sounding panicked. "Won-Won? What's wrong?"

Ron had a sort of glazed look on his face, reminiscent of Luna Lovegood on a particularly imaginative day. "Wrong," he repeated in a chilling voice. "Nothing is wrong. I'm perfectly fine. I loved you, you know, Hermione? But you didn't care. Lavender does though. Lav- you're so pretty. Except that freckle on your hand. It freaks me out. Like it's staring at me. Nothing's wrong..."

Hermione looked at Ron's half eaten plate, while no one else in their group had even begun eating. There was a commotion at the Hufflepuff table, then the Ravenclaw, and people began shouting in alarm at their friends' vacant stares. Umbridge looked very smug, straightening her back and smirking at everyone.

" _Silencio!_ " Hermione whispered, waving her wand underneath the table at Ron. He knew things. He knew where Sirius was, where the Order was and who was in it. Likely, that's what Umbridge wanted, but it hadn't crossed Hermione's mind that she might put the Veritaserum in the food.

Harry seemed to understand what it was as well, his eyes darting towards the Slytherin table where Daphne seemed confused, but unaffected. "Hermione, is it-"

"It has to be," she told him, watching Umbridge interrogating a Ravenclaw student and the other teachers trying to control the growing upset. "We need to leave. Umbridge will be coming after us for sure."

Harry nudged Neville and Ginny, who had yet to eat anything, and they stood to follow with Ron being led by Lavender. "She's distracted, we need to get out of here."

"Granger," came Professor Snape's voice. He came through, pushing through people trying to shake their friends' out of it and pulling Luna with him. Luna, who did not have the usual dreamy look, but looked completely blank with no emotion. "Take Lovegood with you. Stay out of sight and away from anyone for at least an hour."

Hermione grabbed her friend's hand and pulled her with them. Almost everyone had been in the Great Hall, but Harry told any student they came across in the corridors to go back to their common rooms, that breakfast was canceled.

"Where are we going?" Neville asked her. "If they're looking for us, they'll expect us to go to Gryffindor Tower. And we can't go back to the Room of Requirement."

"We'll go down to the dungeons," a breathless voice said behind them.

Harry sagged in relief, turning around with not quite a smile. "Daphne!"

Daphne and her sister, who had insisted on bringing Malfoy who was obviously under the influence of the potion. Hermione was glad, for a moment, that Ron wasn't himself and couldn't get angry at the mere sight of him.

"Umbridge was starting to look for you when I was leaving," Daphne told them. "There's a number of abandoned classrooms down in the dungeons where we can hide. Professor Snape said he would keep them away."

"Why would he do that?" Ginny asked. "What are you doing here? Why did you bring _Malfoy_?"

"Gin," Neville said, glancing back, "we can ask questions later. I hear people coming."

Daphne led them down the corridors, ahead of the people who had left the Great Hall after them. Hermione brought Luna with them, not letting go of her friend's hand as they snuck around corners and towards the dungeons. Harry stayed close to Daphne and Neville and Ginny, though slightly confused at how their morning had gone thus far, followed with Lavender and the vacant Ron.

"Through here," Daphne whispered, opening a class door that looked as though it hadn't seen use in quite some time.

It looked very like Snape's classroom, but as though its students had suddenly stood up and left, never to return. Unlike many classrooms not in use, there were no old chairs or desks stacked on each other in wait for someone to come and use them as they had once been used. There was a thick layer of dust over everything, and on the board there seemed to be leftover writing from a lesson about Wolfsbane. A few of the chairs were still pulled out as though their occupants had left in a hurry and no one had pushed them in after.

"Not creepy at all," Lavender whispered, setting Ron in one of the out turned chairs and looking around the large classroom.

"Oi!" A voice said. Everyone jumped at the sudden sound in the silence, turning to a portrait that none of them had ever seen before. It was a man, with red hair and an intense face, standing in his portrait tall and staring the ragtag group down with suspicious eyes. "Who're you lot?"

Hermione gasped, her eyes going wide as she walked closer to the portrait with a growing smile. "Yo-you're Godric Gryffindor."

He blinked at her, looking down at her uniform and perking up with a grin. "You're one of mine."

"Yes, sir," she nodded, feeling a swell of pride.

"Sir?" He asked, bewildered as he glanced around. He leaned forward as though he was going to tell her some important secret- or step out of the portrait. Considering no one ever knew the Founder had a portrait, Hermione briefly thought that either were plausible. But he whispered conspiratorially, "I'm just a portrait, lass."

"I didn't think any of the Founders had a portrait," Daphne said, coming forward to examine it as well. "Are you the only one?"

"No," he admitted, "Helga's around here somewhere. You're one of Sal's."

"Shhh!" Harry said, standing at the door and listening out as there were the familiar sounds of Filch's running and wheezing. Everyone held their breath as the door knob rattled and there was a pause on the other side of the locked door. The man seemed to give up, running off again to find them and everyone sighed in relief.

Gryffindor's portrait grinned at them, a face Hermione knew well as one Harry adopted before doing something insane. "Oh, are you all in trouble then? What have you done to inflict being chased? Was it awful? Was it brave?"

Everyone, aside from the drugged Ron, Malfoy, and Luna, crowded towards the portrait to study him in wonder.

"Actually," Ginny said, "we're hiding from the Headmistress. She's dosed everyone with Veritaserum."

He looked startled. "V-veritaserum? That toad tried to drug my students? Oh yes," he said at their surprised expressions. "I've heard all about the recent going ons of my school. Never have things been so dark. Why, not even when Grindelwald threatened the walls did such horror occur."

"So, you know everything that's been happening?"

They explained to him about knowing things the 'Headmistress' wanted to know, or things she _thought_ they knew. Like where Dumbledore went. At each note, the painted man nodded.

"Yes, I am well informed by Helga, who resides in her common room, and Severus who still comes here from time to time. Though his friend no longer visits."

"Friend?" Hermione asked.

"Snape has friends?" Harry asked, a sour look on his face.

"I thought you hated Slytherins."

"Gee, thanks, Longbottom."

"It's true," he said ruefully.

"Silence!" The portrait commanded in a surprisingly commanding voice. For a painted being, that is. "No, I don't hate Sal's students. They just aren't mine."

Hermione glanced around at the group, knowing what they were all thinking. About the infamous tension between Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. It was something of legend, and now it was being implied that it hadn't existed.

"We didn't mean any disrespect, sir," she said. "It's just, we've all been told that you and Slytherin hated each other."

At this, he _really_ looked shocked, but it wasn't his voice that said, "Hate? My dear, they were inseparable. Really, the only reason Rowena and I built the school with them was because of their conviction in wanting to do it."

A woman with brown hair and wearing a long yellow dress, like sunshine, glided into the portrait with Godric. She smiled at them all, a dopey smile that made one want to smile back.

He nodded to her and what she'd said, looking back to them. "True, we fought sometimes, and we disagreed on silly things such as blood status, but he wasn't a bad person."

"No, of course he wasn't," Helga said, scandalized. "Do you think I would marry a monster?"

" _Marry_?" Harry asked, the first time he spoke to them. "But, he had a basilisk to attack muggleborns! It almost killed Hermione!"

"Harry," Hermione said. "It's fine. Really."

"Sal would never!" Helga insisted gently. "He had Eisza from a baby, and he _never_ used her to attack anyone. He built his Chamber for her when she got too big, so that she didn't hurt anyone or herself."

"I know you," Godric said. "Your eyes, they're- what is your mother's name?"

He was looking at Harry, who suddenly looked put on the spot and he took a step back. Hermione thought about the portrait saying Snape's friend never came anymore... and despite everything Snape had said to Harry about James, he never once mentioned anything about his mother.

"Lily," she answered for him. "Lily Evans. That's who you meant earlier about Snape's friend, isn't it."

"Snape?" A dreamy voice said behind them, as though the person was waking up from a long sleep. One that you wake up more tired than when you'd gone to bed. Everyone turned to her with a relieved sigh, Hermione included. Luna was blinking at them with slight confusion as she looked around, likely looking for the man in question.

"No," Harry said. "Mum wouldn't be friends with _him._ "

"I think he's lovely," Luna told him seriously, in her whispy way.

Daphne nodded to agree. "He's not really like that, how he is with the Gryffindors. He's different with us."

Harry didn't outright argue with Daphne, only flaring his nose in the way that told Hermione he was holding his tongue- likely with his teeth to keep from doing so. Luna stood up and walked over to where they were at the portrait. Godric looked slightly affronted.

"Lily and Severus were about as close as they could be. We had bets going on whether or not they would marry, but there was something of a falling out..." He faded off as if realizing he shouldn't be saying such things, and wilting at the look Helga Hufflepuff was giving him. He looked back to Harry. "How is she? You'll have to tell her I said hello, and she must come see us after this Umbridge mess is taken care of."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, glances shifting to each other. Hermione cleared her throat. "Lily and James Potter died fourteen years ago, sir."

Both paintings gasped, Helga holding her hand to her mouth with eyes that looked like particularly fresh paint. "I-I'd heard something, but I never imagined, it does explain quite a bit..." She looked at Harry apologetically before clearing her own throat and looking at Luna.

"You must be Miss Lovegood," she said thickly, obviously looking for any change of topic. "Severus has told us much about you. That you saw the Glow with _Mate Animae Meae_. I admit that potion was created after our time, but I do remember Lily and Severus discussing it when their potion lesson arrived."

There was a groan behind them, and Malfoy was rubbing his head- mussing his hair. "My head feels like a hippogriff attacked me."

Harry snorted. "Have a lot of experience with that, do you?"

Daphne giggled and Malfoy shot them both a scornful look before blinking in surprise. He looked around. "What's going on?" He demanded.

"Draco!" Astoria exclaimed hopefully. He looked to her with a light that Hermione thought looked almost as though she could see the Glow reflected in his eyes. Like Astoria was an angel come to save him.

"Az," he smiled, perhaps the first genuine smile they'd ever seen him give. "Daph, what are we doing here with Potter?"

"We've been drugged," Luna said passively. "I only had a treacle tart, which is really rather disappointing. I like treacle tart, but I fear I might think of them all as traitors from this day forth."

He looked at her in amused disbelief. "What, and you just brought me with you?" He asked with even more disbelief.

Everyone glanced to Astoria and Malfoy quietened, deflating a bit. Lavender sniffed, going back to Ron, who was staring straight ahead of him without sign of situational awareness. "Why isn't Ron waking up? Luna and Malfoy have."

"He ate a bit more than they did," Hermione said logically, not expecting the snarl she got in return from Lavender.

"Oh, you're just jealous," she scowled, "because you don't _have_ a soulmate."

Hermione tried to fight her sudden and unexpected anger at Lavender's tone, she tried to rationalize to herself that the other girl was just worried and taking her anger on anyone in close vicinity.

"It's incredibly unlikely and ridiculous to expect that everyone meets their soulmate in Hogwarts," she said shortly. "And I can promise you, that my soulmate won't have the intelligence, or lack there of, equal to a flobberworm's."

"Hey," Neville stepped forward, ever the mediator. "We're not angry at each other, not even Malfoy. It's Umbridge and the Veritaserum. I'm sure Ron will wake up soon. We have to think about how to avoid the Veritaserum in the food. I'm sure Harry, Ron, and Hermione know some things that Umbridge would bite her arm off to know."

At this, Malfoy perked up- as though expecting them to start listing the things they knew that Umbridge wanted. "Too bad there's not a gun for it."

Everyone looked at Ginny in confusion.

"A gun?" Neville asked, "Like a muggle wand?"

"Why would we need a gun?" Hermione asked, momentarily imagining a bullet wound ruining Umbridge's ridiculous pink robes.

Now Ginny looked confused. "Isn't that where they shoot you with an illness so you don't get sick?"

Daphne briefly glanced up from where she'd sat down. "That's called a shot. Nothing to do with an actual gun. It helps muggles get immune to things like influenza."

Hermione wondered how either pureblood heard of a gun, one being right about its purpose and the other being wrong, when she understood where they were going with it. "That's perfect," she shouted. "I mean, there isn't a shot, per say. So, what if we just take Veritaserum in small doses and work ourselves up to being immune? Luna could ask Snape for another bottle of Veritaserum, and we could try it."

"Would that work?" Harry asked the portraits.

The paintings looked at each other, Godric making a face. "Sal was our potioneer."

"It certainly couldn't hurt," Helga reasoned aloud to herself. "I suppose, and if you made sure that there was a safe place to take it that you couldn't be exploited for it, it would be worth a try."

"Lav?" Lavender shrieked with relief at Ron looking around, crushing him in a hug and reattaching their lips after perhaps the longest period of time they'd been separated. They weren't together long, the disgusting noises only having just started when there was a loud bang in the hallway.

It was a loud sound, that seemed to shake the castle and rattle the desks where Harry was vaguely trying to draw a dragon in the dust. The ceiling above them shook violently, though they could tell it had happened several floors up. Perhaps in the Great Hall.

"My word!" Helga exclaimed.

"What was that?" Astoria asked worriedly.

Hermione walked over to the door, the others following her aside from the Slytherins and the portrait. Obviously. She opened the door a crack to peek out. As soon as it was open, however slight the crack was, they could hear the screams that echoed off of the stone walls.

"Forgive us," Luna said dreamily to the paintings, "but we must go see who is getting into trouble without Harry."

"Quite alright, my dear," Godric told her sincerely, "be sure to come back down sometime and tell us what's happened."

So all of the students left the abandoned room to find out what the kerfuffle was, and it wasn't hard to find. Two floors up, having passed screaming and running students, were a tremendous amount of fireworks having been lit. Dragons of green and gold swept down from the ceilings, breathing fire and making more loud bangs- chasing choice students regardless of house, but without doing any harm. Large shocking pink wheels whizzed dangerously close by. Rockets with long tails of brilliant silver stars took off from unseen platforms.

Hermione's eyes widened at the display, particularly at a group of first years laughing at sparklers that wrote out foul curse words in the air, but it seemed the others in her group were just as shocked. The only things that made them stop staring with slack jaws was the scene of Umbridge chasing an exceptionally persistent firework and trying to stupefy it. When she succeeded in hitting it with her red jet, it went off in some sort of frenzy.

"Don't stupefy them!" She commanded Filch desperately, never mind that the Squib couldn't have done so anyway.

"What did your brothers do?" Neville asked Ginny, laughing. Even Malfoy and the Greengrass sisters were laughing just as hard- ignoring the differences that might have otherwise prevented that.

"Mum's going to kill them," Ginny agreed.

The twins in question popped out from behind a tapestry once Umbridge and Filch were past. "Like them," Fred asked, placing a teasing arm around Hermione's shoulders the way he did.

"Impressive," Harry told George, "you'll have no trouble putting Mr. Filibuster out of business now."

"Wait until you see them try to Vanish one," Fred whispered conspiratorially. "They multiply tenfold when you do."

There was a frustrated, shrill screech down the corridor that told them Umbridge had tried just that. All afternoon, after their missing Charms whilst hiding from Umbridge, the fireworks continued and the 'headmistress' ran around the school with wild desperation to get rid of the ruckus making things. The other teachers didn't seem to mind them too much, finding them more amusing after seeing Umbridge's exasperation for them.

*

All week Fred and George were the heroes of Hogwarts, bowing deeply whenever someone came to thank them or commend them on their explosions. Marietta's pimple problem didn't go away in the next few days, though it was obvious that she was trying to get rid of them, and every time Hermione passed them- Cho and Marietta gave her glares as venomous as they could make them. Fred and George were even more full of themselves when a Slytherin prefect, Montague, was discovered jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor. That was the night Harry came back to the Gryffindor Tower early from his Occlumency lesson.

Hermione wasn't naive. She knew that Snape wouldn't have just _let_ Harry stop taking his lessons, whether he knew enough of it or not. If nothing else, he would keep them going because it made Harry miserable. She wasn't entirely sure why he was done with lessons, but she knew it wasn't for the reason Harry gave her.

They hadn't gotten together again with the Slytherins since the Breakfast Debacle, though she thought it likely Harry had been spending time with Daphne. With their friends paired up, he'd been slipping away from Gryffindor at odd times and flushing red when he was caught sneaking back. Hermione, for her part, spent time studying. It became glaringly obvious that her soulmate was no where in the castle, and despite what she'd said to Lavender, she was rather worried over it. Suppose she didn't have a soul mate. She was no where near the only one who's Glow hadn't come.

Easter holidays came, but few students left for them. It suddenly occurred to everyone, most especially the fifth years, that their exams were only six weeks away. There was something of a panic for the right books to study from and the right answers and trying to figure out what questions would be asked. Harry was distant, though he didn't argue when Hermione gave him his study schedule. About halfway through the holiday, Luna came to them and told them that she had asked Snape for the Veritaserum and when did they want to meet. So Hermione told Harry, and Harry told Daphne, and Daphne told Malfoy and her sister.

"I need to talk to Sirius," Harry was telling Hermione and Ron a few hours before they were meant to meet with everyone else in the same room as before. "And Fred and George have offered to help."

"How exactly are you expecting you'll do that?" Hermione asked him quietly. "All of the fireplaces are watched except for Umb- no. No, you can't."

"It's important," he pleaded. "You don't understand. I need to talk to him about... some things. About his Glow, and... a few things about my dad."

Ron, who was looking through job leaflets, lowered one about training security trolls. "Can't you ask him this summer? I mean, there's only a few weeks left."

Harry shook his head. "No, I have to know some things or I won't be able to concentrate on anything else."

Hermione couldn't help but wonder if this had anything to do with Harry's end of Occlumency lessons and Snape's increasingly bad mood. Maybe it was his hormones making him have such bad ideas and an apparent disregard for wanting to live, but she didn't have time to comment before they were heading towards the dungeon. She, Harry, and Ron were stuffed under the Invisibility Cloak and she thought with a sense of nostalgia that the Cloak seemed smaller than in the years before.

Malfoy, Daphne, Astoria, and Luna were already there. Lavender, Neville, and Ginny walked in shortly after them.

"How should we start it?"

"The official dose is three drops," Hermione said, remembering Snape's instructions and her own private reading on the substance. "But knowing Umbridge, she'll be using much more than that. I think we should each start with one drop until we no longer feel compelled to be truthful. Then we'll progress to two drops, then three, but no higher then six. That's when it starts getting dangerous, but by that time we should be fine."

"If it starts getting dangerous by six," Malfoy started, "then how dangerous would it have been for her putting Merlin knows how many drops in the food?"

The incident hadn't been repeated, and it seemed that the food lately had been safe to eat, but that didn't mean she wouldn't do it again.

"And, if there's only a few weeks left of school," Astoria said, "why are we bothering?"

"Because it isn't likely Umbridge is just going to leave over the summer hols," Neville told her. "And with the short time to the end of term, it's more likely she'll try to do it again- knowing that she's running out of time."

"Besides," Harry said. "Who says Voldemort wouldn't try to drug people."

He said this staring at Malfoy, who flinched at the name and looked away. He took the vial from Luna and offered to give Daphne a drop of it, the green liquid falling onto her tongue. Next, Neville and Ginny. And Astoria. And Ron and Lavender. One drop, as opposed to how ever many Umbridge had used in the breakfast, didn't seem to do much to them. Hermione only felt a slight tingle at swallowing the potion.

"How do you know it's working?" Godric asked, watching them curiously.

"Someone try to lie," Helga advised.

No one seemed to want to go first, Harry and Malfoy looking back and forth at each other distrustfully. It seemed they were both thinking that they were expected to tell some deep secret, though Hermione doubted either boy had anything terribly secretive as they likely thought they did. Hermione knew Harry too well, and Malfoy was too smug to be able to keep anything quiet for long.

"Oh," she scoffed, "stop being silly, the both of you. My favorite color is re-lavender."

At the point she was trying to lie and say her favorite color was red, it was like she couldn't control herself and the truth blurted out. Like when she was younger, trying to hold her breath in a contest with her dad and her face would get red before she had to gasp in air and he won.

"My name is Sco- Draco."

He had the same red tinge to his face that she could imagine having had herself when trying to lie. The others tried to do the same with like minded questions, favorite colors and foods and holidays and the likes. It seemed Daphne's favorite day of the year was Boxing Day, and Luna's favorite color was htun... whatever _that_ was. It seemed no one was successful in fooling the potion, though surprisingly Neville got the furthest through his.

"Perhaps you all need more incentive," Helga said quietly from her portrait. "Godric and I could ask you questions. Not serious things, but perhaps things that you'd rather not answer in front of you peers."

"That doesn't sound like a disaster waiting to happen," Malfoy said snottily.

Hermione groaned. "Can't you just go with it? If you don't want to be here, then you are more than welcome to leave. No one is stopping you."

He glanced to Astoria and huffed. "I'm waiting," he said imperiously to Helga.

She wasn't put off by his attitude, but smiled. "Career Meetings are to occur next week. What profession are you looking into?"

Malfoy's face went red, and he sputtered, but was obviously trying not to answer her until he knew he could lie to her. In the end, his mouth betrayed him. "Healer."

"You?" Ron chuckled derisively. "A _Healer_? Think I'd rather die than rely on you to fix me."

"Funnily enough," Malfoy responded, crossing his arms and wrinkling his nose, "I think I'd rather that too."

Hermione smacked Ron in the back of the head at the same time Daphne did the same to Malfoy. Next, it was Luna- who wanted to be a magizoologist. Neville, not surprisingly, wanted to teach and study Herbology. Ginny wanted to fly for the Holyhead Harpies. Ron wanted to fly for the Chudley Cannons.

"I used to want to be an astronaut," Daphne said quietly. "But now, I think I just want to study physics."

Everyone looked at her blankly, the muggle-raised or muggle-knowledgeable in surprise, the purebloods in confusion. Harry especially looked surprised.

"Really?" He asked.

She nodded. "I-I like looking at the stars and I like numbers. I love the muggle world."

"I want to run an ice cream shop," Harry said with a red, obviously embarrassed, expression. "Or maybe a flower shop since I like gardening okay."

She smiled at him, a small and hesitant smile. "That sounds lovely."

Lavender wanted to have her own robes shop. Astoria wanted to have children and teach them music. Hermione wanted to fight for rights for everyone; improving life for Magical Creatures like werewolves and house elves.

After everyone had answered Helga's question, only half of them remembering they were supposed to try lying, they all looked at each in new light and perhaps respect.

 **A/N: I'm not really sure how I feel about this chapter... I don't really have plans in mind for the portraits, nor did I really mean to put them there it just happened. However, next chapter will have Fred and George's departure and Harry's conversation with Sirius. Tell me what you think of the inter house relationship that I'm thinking about. Also, I love seeing your theories on who her Glow will be. If you ever want your theory confirmed or denied, tell me and I will tell you. Happy New Year to all!**

 **Dasvidanya, Mia.**


	4. Rebellion

Chapter four: Rebellion

"Come on in, Miss Granger," Professor McGonagall said when it was time for Hermione's career appointment. On her way in, she passed Neville who nodded to her in a secretive and at the same time assuring way.

"You have this," he whispered as they exchanged.

Hermione hadn't been nervous, but she straightened anyway when he said that- her head held high when she saw Umbridge perched in a chair with her infuriating clipboard. And she understood why Neville was offering support. So she held her head higher.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall said, commanding Hermione's attention away from Umbridge softly. "We are here to discuss any career options you might be interested in, and advisement on how to achieve it. Have you... had any thoughts on where you would like to do after Hogwarts?"

Of course Hermione had. It was what she did, think. She thought ahead. She'd been thinking about career options in the magical world from her first year, and the one she'd settled on since her fourth. Hermione sat down in the offered chair, her back to the 'headmistress'.

"Yes," she said, trying not to think about what Umbridge could be doing while Hermione couldn't see her. She didn't trust the woman, and she used that term loosely, when she _could_ see her. But McGonagall could see her, and Hermione trusted her.

"I'd like to find a position that would allow me to help rally for creature rights."

She saw pride shine in her mentor's eyes and felt even more emboldened. McGonagall smiled, glancing behind at Umbridge and Hermione resisted the urge to do the same. "Well, the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures is the second biggest department in the Ministry."

Hermione nodded. Of course she knew that. "I find myself hesitant to consider a Ministry position. I'd like to do some good in the world."

McGonagall was obviously trying not to smirk and failing, covering the whole thing with a cough. Umbridge sputtered. "Miss Granger! I will have you know that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures does _plenty_ good! We've pushed the centaurs back further away from the school-"

"I want to do more with my life than force creatures out of their rightful homes and make it harder for them to take care of themselves," Hermione said conversationally, aimed to McGonagall. "I would like to help werewolves and house elves to gain more rights."

There was an offended and outraged scoff from Umbridge.

"Is there anything you would recommend that isn't part of the Ministry?" Hermione asked.

Professor McGonagall moved her brochures around to find a few. "I'm sure you know about the dragon reserves."

Hermione grimaced, remembering Harry trying to outfly his Horntail in the tournament. "I don't think that is what I was looking for."

"Well, I'm afraid there isn't much outside of the Ministry. Curse-breakers work with goblins."

"I'm not one for banking, I'm afraid."

McGonagall looked disgruntled. "Well... it's a department of the Ministry, but it's fairly isolated. There are liaisons that speak for various creatures."

" _Speak_ for them?" Umbridge asked, obviously confused. "Why would you want to speak _for_ those beasts? They're dangerous!"

"You _make_ them dangerous when you threaten and destroy their lives," Hermione defended, thinking about Remus. "I believe there are ways to help magical creatures and protect their rights in a way everyone can live together in peace. We are already fighting a war, whether you choose to see it or not, and there doesn't need to be another that you seem to be cultivating with such dangerous things as the Werewolf Registry!"

"You're one of Potter's friends!" Umbridge accused. "I suppose you'll tell me as well that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back?"

"He is," Hermione insisted, "and his name is Voldemort."

"Rubbish!"

"Silence!" McGonagall said sternly, hushing them both up; Hermione in embarrassment and Umbridge in irritation at being told what to do. "Miss Granger, I think those are wonderful ideas. You'll need a NEWT in Care of Magical Creatures, of course, which I don't think you'll find difficult, and another in Defense Against the Dark Arts."

There was an interrupting cough from Umbridge and McGonagall spoke over it. "It might also be prudent for you to continue in your Potions as well. I would have suggested Divination to help with some of the creatures such as centaurs, but I understand you left that class at the end of your third year. Also, Astronomy. There are too many species to name that take that into consideration and as a liaison or speaker, you'll need to understand them all. I'm sure there are people you could speak to about that."

Yes, she could always talk to Hagrid. And Remus. Umbridge coughed again.

"Are you dying?" McGonagall asked sharply.

Umbridge sat up straighter and looked as close as she could to innocent. "No, but I'm afraid you've missed the part where you warn Miss Granger of the dangers, and explain why there is need for control."

"Control?" Hermione asked lightly. "Guidance and regulations, I understand completely, but the Ministry doesn't seem to want to guide so much as it wants to control and be tyrannical." She stood to leave, glancing in Umbridge's general direction without making eye contact that might have turned Hermione to stone. "Tyranny, I'm sure you'll find, _Headmistress_ , breeds rebellion."

That's exactly what happened when they left their Defense Against the Dark Arts class that afternoon, away from their silent reading and Umbridge's constant glare at their table. It took her and her friends a moment or two to recognize the screams, and what they were a signal of. It was Harry's diversion, the one that would hopefully keep Umbridge busy enough that Harry could speak to Sirius.

"Harry," Hermione tried weakly, knowing she wouldn't be able to stop him from going. "Please..."

But he hitched his bag higher on his shoulder and ran forward, disappearing into the crowd. Hermione and Ron watched him go for a moment, before Hermione sighed and ran after him.

"He can make up his own mind, Hermione," Ron called, following her- obviously under the impression she was still trying to stop him from doing it.

"We have to make sure he isn't caught," she insisted, running back to Umbridge's office. She could see Harry ahead of her, not having enough of a head start that she couldn't catch up. "Harry!"

They all stopped outside the door, the hallway it was situated in abandoned. Harry had his Invisibility Cloak out and Sirius' knife. "I'm doing it, Hermione."

"Well, go on then, and hurry. Ron and I will keep look out."

Harry was surprised that she wasn't fighting him anymore, but this year had changed everyone. So he watched she and Ron go to opposite sides of the corridor to watch for people and he ducked under the cloak. Her office was empty, aside from the awful kittens on the plates frolicking freely on the walls. On the mantle, was the jar of Floo powder. He glanced around carefully again before uncovering himself and grabbing a handful of the glittering dust.

"Number Twelve Grimmauld Place," he said clearly into the fire, dropping the powder and looking away from the too bright green flames until they settled and he carefully stuck his face in.

It was a strange feeling. He'd traveled by Floo before, and didn't like it, but it felt very similar on a smaller scale. He could feel part of his body in Umbridge's office, but he could see a man at the end of the long dining table in Grimmauld Place- reading a paper.

"Sirius?"

It was not Sirius, but Lupin that he obviously gave a fright. He jerked his paper down, mangling the thing, and jumped to his feet; settling when he saw Harry's face in the fireplace. "Harry? What's happened? Is everything alright?"

Harry felt insecure again. This wasn't exactly what one might call an emergency. "Yeah. I just wondered, I mean, I just fancied a- a chat with Sirius."

"Okay," Lupin said slowly, looking perplexed. "I'll go get him for you."

Harry waited awkwardly, his knees protesting at kneeling on the stone floor of Umbridge's office. A few moments later, Lupin returned with Sirius. Five minutes at least had gone by since he'd come into the office, Harry was overly aware, and Fred and George had only promised him twenty. So Harry barely said hello before launching into his story about finding his Glow, learning of his mother's friendship with Snape, and seeing Snape's memory in the Pensieve.

Sirius and Lupin seemed stunned at the end of it, both having smiled in the beginning about Daphne- an expression that turned into one of discomfort at the end of it. Neither of them said anything for a few minutes.

"I forgot," Sirius said quietly, looking haunted. "I forgot that she used to do that. She was always looking for a cause that needed her loyalty and defense."

"Harry," Lupin addressed him, giving Sirius a concerned look, "you mustn't judge your father for what you saw there. He was only fifteen."

"I'm fifteen," Harry said, hating that Lupin was talking to him like a child and quite unsure who he was defending.

Sirius seemed to snap out of wherever he was and tried to placate Harry. "Look, Harry, James and Snape hated each other from the moment they laid eyes on each other and Snape's friendship with Lily only made it worse. It wasn't very unlike the hatred you and Draco Malfoy have for each other."

"We _don't_ hate each other anymore," Harry told him, thinking about their Veritaserum meetings in the dungeons. "He's Daphne's friend."

"Harry, everyone is stupid at fifteen."

"Hermione isn't."

Sirius sighed. "She's a bit of a special case, isn't she? And I meant all fifteen year old boys are stupid and beastly and should probably be locked up in a box from twelve to twenty until their hormones settle. James was a bit of an arrogant berk, we all were. It was easy to get carried away."

Harry tried to accept what Sirius was saying, and in some way he did, but another part of him wanted to say more in Snape's defense. But as they'd said his third year... Snape gave as good as he got. Harry knew from experiences with Malfoy, sometimes Malfoy won and sometimes he won.

"Well, Dad and Mum were each other's Glow, right? So that would have settled things."

"Isn't _Mate Animae Meae_ usually a seventh year potion," Lupin asked quietly, looking awkward. "We didn't brew it until seventh, that is."

Harry perked up at this. "You've both taken it? Did you find your Glows?"

Sirius seemed to shrink into himself and Lupin gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't going to explain it. Harry momentarily wondered if it was each other. But Sirius grimaced.

"Harry, you must understand that not all soulmates are romantic. You can have a soulmate that you only want to be friends with. It's not terribly uncommon."

"And it was a long time ago," Lupin interjected for him.

"Yes," Sirius said gladly, "a _very_ long time ago. An age."

Harry eyed them both suspiciously. "Who was it?"

Sirius twitched his nose. "Well, you see, it was Lily."

Harry's green eyes widened before narrowing accusingly. "My mum! What about Dad? You-you-"

"Nothing ever came of it," Sirius said. "I would never have done that to James, and Lily was never more than a sister to me. They weren't even going out yet. Soulmates are very difficult things."

"You should have seen the shiner James gave him," Lupin said.

Harry felt sick to his stomach at the thought. He'd always thought that his parents fell in love at first sight, love written in the stars- or, that's how it seemed everyone like to describe it. Now he found that his mum hated his dad for the majority of their years at Hogwarts, and they weren't even meant for each other. "If you and Mum were mates, then who was Dad's."

"As far as I know," Lupin said, obviously thinking back as he spoke, "he never found his."

Sirius shook his head to confirm. "If you ask me, it's a meddlesome potion that doesn't need to be in the curricular. All it does is cause trouble."

"Daphne isn't trouble," Harry told him with an intense expression.

"Maybe not," Lupin said carefully, as though sensing danger, "but I know how James was after Sirius and Lily found out they were soulmates, even if they were only friends, and even more that he never found his."

Harry thought about Hermione, who also hadn't found hers, and how quiet it seemed to have made his friend. Sirius spoke suddenly and passionately. "I don't care what some potion said. James and Lily were soulmates. That's what I told James then, and that's how I feel now."

Lupin looked uncomfortable, looking from his friend to Harry to explain. "You see, Harry, whether soulmates are strangers or platonic or not- there's a sort of bond between them that is different from anyone. Daphne, you said it was? I remember her, her father is a good man. Tell me, do you have this strange feeling that you could always find her? That you always seem to know where she is even if you don't?"

Harry nodded slowly.

"No, Remus. He's too young to worry about that."

"That doesn't change, Harry," Lupin said sadly. "That's how Sirius knew something went wrong in Godric's Hollow. That's how he knew something bad had happened."

Sirius stopped him, pleading with Lupin to stop, but Harry understood. Sirius had felt it when his mother died, and he constantly felt her absence.

* * *

The story of Fred, George, and Angelina's departure became legend quickly, being retold over and over and each time with new additions. One day the twins were said to have dumped a bucket of hippogriff dung over Umbridge, other days they set her on fire, but each story was told with pride and a whisper of mutual rebellion. There were plenty of students vying for the leftover position of Troublemaker, each trying to outdo their peers in how angry they could make Umbridge and get away with it. There was never a shortage of people willing to make a diversion for other students when they needed it. This came in handy to allow Hermione and their group to sneak into the dungeons to meet the others.

"Took you long enough, didn't it?" Malfoy complained halfheartedly, in an almost friendly tone.

Hermione only smiled, watching him go back to his conversation with Ron about Quidditch- with Harry making remarks from his own conversation about the muggle world with Daphne. Lavender and Astoria had formed a strange friendship, built on talk of silks and satins and shoes. Ginny and Neville seemed to be humoring Luna with her talk of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks.

"Who all is up to three drops?" She asked unnecessarily. She, Harry, Neville, Luna, and Malfoy were up to three drops of Veritaserum. Ginny, Lavender, Daphne, and Ron were at two. Astoria was still having trouble with one.

Once everyone was drugged, Helga and Godric asked their questions. It was a competition between Malfoy and Harry and even Neville as to who could progress faster. Surprisingly, it seemed Neville was faster at making it to the next mark.

"Draco," Godric began, with Malfoy having become his favorite aside from Harry. That was a competition between the two as well. "What is your boggart?"

Malfoy's cheeks pinkened and he mumbled. "A niff- hippogriff."

He breathed heavily, again as though he had been holding his breath. Harry chuckled before he was asked, "What is your biggest regret?"

It was sobering to hear him say that it was leading Cedric to the graveyard when he said they should take it together. Daphne held his hand and laid her head on his shoulder, and Helga seemed keen to move on.

"Astoria, your favorite instrument."

"Cel- piano!" She groaned. "I'm never going to get to two drops."

"You're only thirteen," Daphne pacified. "No one expects you to be good at it immediately. And not everyone will get to six. You're doing fine."

Lavender was next, making it to three with saying she hated pink. Ron rewarded her with a kiss, following her shortly by saying that he wanted to be in Slytherin. Neville made it to four, as did Luna. Ginny made it to three, and just before they left the room, Astoria joined her sister for two drops.

"Harry," Daphne said to him before they left, glancing traitorously at Hermione. "I think you should go to Professor Snape and ask to continue your Occlumency lessons."

"You told her?!" Harry asked, somewhat forcefully. "Hermione!"

"Yes, she did, and I think she's right. You've told me about those dreams. They sound serious!"

Hermione felt slightly guilty about ratting him out to his... whatever their relationship was... but Daphne had come to her in concern about his health and dreams. Said he wasn't sleeping right because of them. And Ron had mentioned them in passing as well.

"I know you're not being truthful about why they stopped," Hermione said. "I don't know what happened, but you need to continue them."

"What are you lot talking about?" Malfoy asked.

Harry snarled, "None of your business!" and he left.

Daphne sighed. "I'm sorry, Hermione. I'll talk to him."

And she left too.

* * *

Hermione had had better days. She'd had worse days, of course, but being picked up by a young giant was not at the top of her bucket list. Of course, she couldn't blame him. Really, he was a child in giant terms, and children liked to grab things. Be it shiny objects... or tiny people. She'd never felt tinier than when she told Grawp to put her back down, his head bigger than an auto car.

"You'll come take care of him then?" Hagrid asked cautiously. "With Dumbledore gone, I don't expect I'll be here much longer. I'm expecting it any day now, but someone's got ter look af'er Grawpy here."

"Of course we will," Hermione promised, with Harry nodding.

Hagrid sniffed and pulled them both into a tight squeeze. "Proud o' yer both. An' Ron, o' course."

Harry pulled away, face red from lack of oxygen. "It won't be for long if it happens," he promised. "They can't keep Dumbledore away for long. He'll be back. You'll see."

Hermione hoped so. Umbridge was getting worse, though they hadn't thought it possible. She was giving people detentions left and right, at least ten a day and they all left her office rubbing the back of their hands. Hermione herself had _I will hold my tongue_ etched eternally in the back of her hand. And exams were closing in.

"Don't worry so much, Granger," Malfoy told her at the end of one of their Veritaserum meetings. Now, everyone was at three or four drops. Except for Neville, who was at five. "Marchbanks is fair."

"I heard she's strict," Hermione argued nervously, a text book in her hand. She'd taken to reading as she walked.

"Bit like Gran, actually," Neville offered. "But fair. No nonsense- you'll like her, I'm sure."

If you knew where to go, who to ask, there was a large secret market of sorts selling aids to concentration, mental agility, and wakefulness. In confiscating all of the above, Hermione wouldn't admit to being very tempted. But there was no actual proof that any of it worked, and half of the things people were selling and buying wasn't actually what they were claiming it was. Like dried doxy droppings.

Their first exam, was Charms. Hermione read the text for it seven times in the two weeks leading up to it, reviewed as best as she could with their group, and reread the parts she still had problems with at breakfast the day of. No one seemed keen on talking, either still half asleep from late nights of review, or nervousness at their exams. Though, afterward Hermione wouldn't admit to Harry and Ron that it wasn't half as hard as she'd expected it to be. When she went to spout off about her answers, they both stopped her.

"Hermione, there are still more exams. Review _after_ we're done with them all."

The first of their group to take their practical Charms, all standing together waiting for their names to be called, was Lavender. She looked as though she'd seen a ghost, shaking as Ron wished her good luck. She didn't come back when more were called, including Hermione and Daphne. Daphne didn't seem very nervous, her back straight and her head high in her aristocratic fashion. Hermione felt sick, though logically she knew it very unlikely she would fail.

"Miss Granger," Professor Flitwick greeted with a grin, she knew very well she was a favorite of his, and pointed. "Professor Marchbanks is available. Good luck."

She gripped her vine wand tightly as she walked over to the woman. She'd give anything to be tested by Tofty, who was less known and looked a lot less intimidating. Daphne went to Tofty instead, sharing a nod with Hermione.

"Miss Granger," Marchbanks said flatly. "I've heard a lot about you, but I will not let that influence your grade just because you're a favorite. Now. Show me your color changing charm."

Hermione successfully made her rat blue, made her teacup dance when she was asked to, and her levitation charm was just as good as when she'd learned it. Their group made it through Charms fairly well, with only Ron giving cause for concern when he caused his plate to turn into a large mushroom- though he had no idea how he'd done so.

"I was supposed to make it dance," he explained, "and I couldn't decide if I wanted it to waltz or tango, then suddenly it was a mushroom!"

She had done, she thought, extremely well in their Transfiguration exam- her rat making a lovely silver goblet with no sign of fur or tail. Neville, it was very clear he could expect an O in Herbology. He'd helped her study for it, helped them all study as they had begun to meet in the dungeons to review and talk than just test themselves against Veritaserum. Harry, however, stole the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam with his Patronus. It seemed after he did that, everyone who'd been in the DA was offering to show theirs as well. Her Ancient Runes, was awful. It was her favorite subject, but one couldn't tell it was if she couldn't even distinguish 'defense' from 'partnership'.

* * *

"Someone's let another niffler into Umbridge's office," Ginny reported when she entered their room in the dungeons- late.

"How did they get it through the new door?" Lavender asked.

"Nifflers can squeeze through any type of door," Astoria told her. "It was in Care of Magical Creatures."

Hermione sighed. "What is Hagrid thinking, putting that on an exam when she already thinks it was him!"

Daphne pointed out that he was teaching when the latest one was let loose, but Umbridge wouldn't care about specifics. She'd make him leave for no reason more than he looked at her funny, which made Hermione wonder why he was still there. A question that was, unfortunately, answered the next night in their Astronomy practical.

"Harry," Daphne had whispered, bringing the scene to their attention.

Whispers rose around the Tower as everyone became aware of the situation in a wave. Down the hill at Hagrid's hut, there were at least a dozen people at his door demanding entrance. Hagrid came into view, only for him to be hidden behind each person shooting a red jet at him to Stun.

"No!" Hermione cried.

"My dear!" Tofty said, scandalized. "This is an examination! There needs to be sil-"

But no one was listening as the people seemed to be shouting down the hill. Hagrid was still standing, the curses seeming to glide off of him. Dawlish was down there, one of the people from Dumbledore's office when he left, telling Hagrid to "be reasonable".

Fang the hound came running from the house to defend Hagrid, only to fall victim to a Stunner. Hagrid roared, a sound that was loud even to the fifth years in the Astronomy Tower, and threw the person responsible- who landed ten feet away and did not get back up.

"Your friend is only making it worse," Malfoy insisted, not being able to look away even when Parvati drew their attention to McGonagall.

Hermione watched her run down the hill to Hagrid's aide as well, in an anger Hermione had never seen her in. "How dare you! Leave him alone! _Alone_ , I say! On what grounds-"

Everyone in the Tower, even the Slytherins, screamed when no less than six Stunners hit her dead in the chest. The red light seemed to illuminate her, making her seem as an avenging hero, before she flew back off of her feet and landed with a sound like a hollow pumpkin. She didn't get up.

Everyone departed to their own common rooms, where in Gryffindor the story spread quickly. People at first accepted that it was about the nifflers being set in Umbridge's office, then recognized that she was probably jumping at the chance to sack him whether she had cause or not. Still, Lee Jordan (the niffler wrangler) seemed very upset that it might have been his fault.

Their last exam was History of Magic. And during it, just as Hermione was finishing her own exam, Harry fell to the floor shouting and grabbing at his scar. And, no matter what she overheard Tofty saying to him, she knew it had to be Voldemort. She let him go, leading the rest of their group to find him after the bell to end the exam rang.

"Voldemort's got Sirius."

 **A/N: So, obviously next chapter will have the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. If next chapter does have her Glow, then the chapter after that will. So... it's coming up. I hope you all liked this chapter. Let me know in the towel section.**

 **Dasvidanya, Mia**


	5. Out of the Veil

Chapter five: Out of the Veil

 _"What?"_ Ron, Ginny and Hermione said together.

"Sirius?" Malfoy said, "as in Sirius Black?"

Neville looked at his girlfriend askance. "Sirius Black?"

Harry waved his hands. "He's innocent, and he's in trouble. I have to get him."

" _Get_ him," Ginny demanded. "No, you don't. You have to tell the Order."

"How do you know he's in trouble," Astoria asked.

"I saw it," Harry said. "Voldemort was there. He's being tortured!"

Malfoy frowned. "The Dark Lord doesn't do things in person, he sends others to do it for him. Are you sure?"

Hermione seemed to agree. "How do you know this isn't just something he _wanted_ you to see? Sirius has been shut inside Headquarters, how could Voldemort have gotten him?"

"Do you even know _where_ in the Ministry they are," Lavender asked.

"Department of Mysteries," he said immediately.

They looked to Malfoy, who looked pale. "Well, I have heard Father discussing that," he told them- dropping the illusion that his father wasn't a Death Eater.

Ron spoke next. "And, it's just like Sirius to crack and go outside for some air. He hates being cooped up there."

"Harry, please," Hermione said as they entered their room. "Think about this."

Harry paced the room, the group obviously having startled Godric. Harry kicked a desk, sending it across the room. "There's nothing to think about! I have to get to him. Are you coming or not?"

Hermione swallowed the knot in her throat, not sure how to tell him that she thought he was wrong. No one could reason with Harry when he was like this. Besides, whether it was likely he was leading them to death or not, Hermione would always be there.

"Maybe you should try to Floo him," Luna said with an uncharacteristic seriousness in her tone. "Then we would know if he was alright or not. I'll go with you if we need to."

"Me too," Ginny said forcefully.

"If you're going to fight," Neville told Harry, "I'm going to be there."

Ron nodded. "I'm always with you, mate."

Lavender stammered, "I don't know what good I'd be, but okay."

Everyone looked to the Slytherins. It was Malfoy- Draco- who spoke before the other two. "I reckon my father will be there, but I suppose it's as good a time as any to tell him what side I'm on."

Daphne nodded. "My father likes to remain neutral, but wherever you go, Harry, if you'll have me, I'll go too. But, Astoria, stays here."

Harry looked like he didn't know what to say to any of them, but he nodded. "The only fireplace open to Floo is Umbridge's. We'll have to break in there. We'll need someone to put Umbridge off the actual course."

"I'll do it," Ron said. Lavender nodded that she would help.

Draco rejected the idea. "I'm part of her Inquisitorial Squad. I'll go, and she'd likely believe me before you Gryffindors."

"Then we can get Peeves and smash up the Transfiguration department or something," Ron said, not arguing with Draco. "Luna and Hermione will stand guard inside the door of her office. Neville and Ginny can stand watch down the corridor. Astoria can go with Malfoy. Daphne will be with Harry."

Harry looked to Hermione, most likely to be sure she was with him on this- as she always was. She nodded, and the groups parted ways. It didn't seem that there were any more defenses than the last time Harry was in the office. Hermione herself looked around for any, but found none. She and Luna stood on either side of the door, while Daphne and Harry went to the fireplace and Harry went into the fire.

He was only in there a few moments, before there was a commotion outside of the doors and Luna opened the door at the sound of Neville's shouts. What they saw was Neville fighting Warrington and Jefferson as the former grabbed Ginny- who was kicking and trying to fight him off herself. It took Herndon and Tawt both to put Neville in a headlock. Hermione shouted for Daphne to get Harry before pulling her wand out and throwing a jinx at the Slytherins that was deflected by Umbridge herself. Behind her, Ron and Lavender both were being pulled by other large Slytherins- and Crabbe and Goyle both seemed rather confused with what it was they were supposed to do with Draco; who had a red hand print on his face and his hair was mussed. Astoria was not with him.

"Take their wands," Umbridge said to two other students, pointing to Hermione and Luna.

Hermione took a step back, fighting off the person who came towards her. But Umbridge sent a disarming spell that hit its target and Hermione's wand was lost, handed to a Slytherin. They entered, dragged, into the office just as Harry came out of the fire to find Daphne being manhandled by a Slytherin that snuck in while Hermione was fighting the other Slytherin students.

"What are you doing in my office," Umbridge demanded.

"Trying to get my Firebolt back," Harry lied.

" _Liar!_ You stationed look outs and your head was in my fireplace. Who were you communicating with? Was it Dumbledore? Hagrid? I would guess Minerva McGonagall, but I hear she's still too ill for visitors..."

Hermione seethed at the slight towards her favorite teacher. Umbridge grabbed Harry and threw him into a chair forcefully, his head snapping back. She could guess who it was that slapped Draco. None of them were terribly concerned about where Astoria was, knowing he wouldn't have let anything happen to her.

"That's not really any of your business."

Umbridge's face tightened and she sent Millicent Bulstrode to fetch Professor Snape. In the mean time, everyone aside from Daphne and Draco, fought their captors. Draco didn't move, though it was obvious he could have gotten away from his intimidated ex-friends. Daphne looked like a heroine, despite the bruises formed on her arms from Katerin holding her. Hermione tried to pull away from the boy who had a tight hold of her, only to be slammed into the wall for submission and threatening to cut off her air supply.

When Snape came in, his face was devoid of emotion until he narrowed his eyes at Luna- who smiled at him as though he'd come to save her on the back of a white steed. He seemed only mildly surprised to see Daphne, and curious at seeing Draco. "You wanted to see me, Headmistress?"

"Ah, Professor Snape," Umbridge said sweetly. "Yes, I would like another bottle of Veritaserum, as quick as you can, please."

Hermione locked eyes with Draco, everyone obviously having the same thought. "You took my last bottle to interrogate Potter. Surely, you haven't used it all. I said that three drops would suffice."

Umbridge went pink, as Snape didn't even have to mention the Breakfast Debacle. "You can make some more, can't you?"

"Granger!" Snape said sharply. "How long does it take to brew a batch of Veritaserum?"

Her person turned her around and shoved her towards the floor, where she skinned her palms on the carpet while catching herself. "It takes a full moon cycle to mature."

"A month?" Umbridge squawked. "I need it this evening! I have just found Potter using my fire to communicate with persons unknown!"

"That doesn't surprise me," Snape said smoothly. "Potter has never been one to follow rules. However, the situation remains the same. I have no Veritaserum and it takes a month to brew. So unless you wish to poison Potter- and I assure you I would have the greatest sympathy with you if you did- there is nothing else I can do."

Hermione tried to think of a way out of this, when Harry shouted. "He's got Padfoot! He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden!"

Professor Snape stopped and glanced over to Harry with a spark in his eyes. He understood, Hermione could tell even though he lied to Umbridge and left. He understood.

*

Severus raced, as soon as the door was closed, towards the dungeons. Of _course_ he understood the boy, how could he not when he remembered very well those ridiculous _pet_ names the Marauders liked to call themselves. Moony, Wormtail, and the like. Students gave him strange looks, but no one said anything to him until he heard someone running behind him and calling his name. One of his own students.

"Professor Snape!"

He stopped and turned around to see Astoria Greengrass. He recalled seeing her sister in the headmistress' office. "What do you want, girl?"

"It's Harry Potter, sir, and Daphne-"

"I know. Run along."

"But sir, someone's in trouble! Draco told me to find you once it was safe to leave McGonagall's office."

Severus pulled her to his office with him where he called for the headquarters. That stupid Sirius Black. Suppose he thought a stroll sounded nice, did he? Suppose he merely needed to be walked.

"Lupin!" He called, the first name that came to mind.

"Snivellous." It wasn't Lupin. It was... Black?

"Black?" He demanded. "Why does your godson think you're being held by the Dark Lord in the Department of Mysteries?"

Then Severus mentally groaned. He'd ended lessons, and rightfully so he'd thought at the time, but obviously Potter hadn't been practicing his Occlumency since. He'd been naive to think Granger would force him to. Potter was too much like his father. Just like him.

"Harry?" Black demanded.

"He's with Umbridge. Apparently he was talking to someone in her Floo. You and I both know it wouldn't have been Dumbledore. He would have tried there."

"I'm the only one that _is_ here," Sirius insisted. "Molly and Arthur have gone back to the Burrow for a bit. Remus is asleep. Unless- Kreacher!"

*

"How did you get away?" Harry asked everyone excitedly.

They all looked worse for the wear, though obviously very proud of themselves. Even Draco wore his usual smirk, straightening his sleeves despite the tears in his clothes. Daphne smothered Harry in a hug. Ron grinned with his arm around Lavender. Ginny and Neville were in a similar position as they all explained the war that went on once Harry and Hermione left Umbridge's office.

"Hang on," Draco said. "You just _happened_ to have a giant in the Forbidden Forest, but it's the _centaurs_ you were worried about? You lot will never be boring, will you?"

"We have to get to London," Harry insisted.

"I've got a broom!" Ginny declared proudly.

"Yeah," Ron said, "but you're not going."

"She's got every right to go as you do," Neville defended.

Draco handed Harry and Hermione both their wands back. "We're all coming, we've already settled this. Now, how are we getting there?"

Luna interjected. "Flying, of course."

"Yes, but how-"

"Thestrals," Draco whispered, looking past them.

Hermione turned, but couldn't see them. She'd never seen anyone die. She believed them, though, when Luna, Draco, and Harry walked over to pet them. And they were off.

*

"What do you mean they're gone?!" Kingsley demanded when Snape told him what had been reported to him by another of his students. Astoria was still in his office being served tea by a house-elf and shaking in worry.

"I mean, they've left. Gone. Umbridge, it seems, has disappeared as well. They'll all be going to the Ministry."

"All?" Molly Weasley asked. "It's not just Harry, Ron, and Hermione?"

Severus shook his head. "It appears not. I'm being told that it seems Potter and Mr. Malfoy have made friends. Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass have joined them, along with Lavender Brown, Miss Weasley, Miss Lovegood, and Mr. Longbottom. They've assaulted the other Slytherins in the process."

"Did you say Daphne?" Lupin asked, walking in.

*

It was ridiculously easy to get into the Department of Mysteries, after they received their name tags and stated their business for the disembodied female voice in the telephone box. Harry walked with purpose to the door he'd been dreaming about, and Hermione walked directly behind him and Daphne in trepidation. There was a pulsing in her chest and she knew in her heart that they shouldn't be there. They marked where they went, starting with the terrifying room with the brains. Then the archway.

"Can anyone else hear that whispering?" Harry asked.

Hermione couldn't hear anything except for their breathing. She didn't think Harry even realized that he was walking closer to the archway as though in a trance. And he wasn't the only one. Luna and Draco were following, stepping up onto the dais the archway sat on. It looked old, and whatever it was, Hermione didn't like it. It felt... dangerous, while at the same time like it was trying to pull her in. Beckoning to her.

"Harry! We're here for Sirius." She could tell when he was back into himself, awareness flickering on his face.

"Right," he said. "Sirius. Let's go."

The next door was locked, and melted Sirius' unlocking knife... they decided to skip it. But the _next_ one, Harry knew was correct, and told Hermione so, leading them to a room entirely made up of towering shelves that held dusty, swirling orbs- as though each one held a memory or a patronus.

"They're prophecies," Draco said, looking around.

"Prophecies?" Hermione asked, feeling uneasy with that word and glancing towards Harry. Draco's eyes followed her gaze and his own silver ones widened in understanding. She had the feeling, and for once hoped against anything that she was wrong, that there was a prophecy about Harry.

"You said row ninety-seven," Daphne prompted him gently, not missing Hermione and Draco's exchange.

"Right," he said.

They walked carefully, each wand glowing with _lumos_ to light the way. They moved past the ninety mark. And ninety-three, ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six- but when they arrived at ninety-seven, there was no one.

"No," Harry said angrily. "He was here! I saw it!"

"Harry," Ron said. "Have you seen this?"

His wand hovered over a plaque with a spidery engraving that read: _S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D. Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter_. Hermione felt sick, looking around at the feeling of being watched but seeing no one. Draco looked uneasy as well, and when Hermione looked back, Harry was reaching for the dusty orb.

"Harry, I don't think you should touch that."

"It's got my name on it, hasn't it?" Harry asked, seeming to have forgotten why they were there.

He wrapped his hand around it, making tracks in the heavy dust, and held it to his chest to examine without chance of breaking it. Hermione watched the swirls move in it and thought that perhaps it was setting up a scene in smoke. Why, she could almost see the makings of a tremendous beard when...

"Very good, Potter," a drawling voice said from behind the group. "Now turn around, nice and slowly, and give that to me."

Everyone whipped around as black figures emerged out of the darkness, their own wands aglow as well. Lavender gasped fearfully at their silver masks and black hoods, eyes peering at them through the slits. In the middle was Lucius Malfoy.

"Where's Sirius?" Harry demanded.

A few of the Death Eaters chuckled. Hermione hated being right all the time. One woman in the back mocked him. Even Lucius Malfoy smirked.

"To me, Potter."

"You need to learn the difference between dreams and reality, Potter," the woman said, coming out to stand beside Malfoy Senior. She was frighteningly beautiful with the air of someone very mad and very dangerous.

She raised her wand to them; and at the same time Lucius Malfoy told her not to attack, his son moved from the group to stand in front of Harry- his own wand raised against the Death Eaters. The woman, Bellatrix he had called her, stopped and her eyes widened at him. Draco seemed to shake as his father faced him, at first with a smirk that turned to rage when he realized Draco was there _with_ Harry to protect him from _Lucius_.

He snarled. "Back away, boy. You and I will have words later."

Draco stood taller, not looking away from Lucius. "I'm afraid, Father, that the Malfoy name just isn't doing anything for me anymore. Mind if I stick with you for a while, Harry?"

Neither boys looked at each other, both wands poised at the ready. "Not at all, Draco."

There was a furious shout from Lucius and he sent a blue jet towards his heir, that Harry deflected in time. Everyone else in the group stepped forward as well to crowd and protect.

"If you want to stand with him, Draco," Bellatrix said with a fake pout, "Then we shall kill you just the same. Lucius?"

Draco drew himself up to his full height and everyone else readied themselves to defend him if need be. The man seemed to falter, his face freezing in its anger. "No," he whispered, hurrying to explain himself when Bellatrix hissed. "Potter might drop it. We have orders. Family reckonings can wait."

"Charming," Draco mumbled, but Hermione saw Harry hold the prophecy tighter.

"Hermione, Ron," Harry whispered, "find us a way out of here."

He went on about asking what the prophecy was for and Ron and Hermione looked around for a weakness in Death Eater lines. The Death Eaters wouldn't waste time protecting each other the way Hermione and her friends would, that _made_ them weaker.

"Didn't you know _he's_ half-blood too?" She heard Harry ask.

"Diversion," Daphne whispered, her lips not moving. "We need a diversion so we can run."

"Brilliant," Ron said. "The shelves, Harry. A _reducto_ ought to do it."

Hermione adjusted her grip on her wand, feeling the familiar and comforting vine beneath her skin. " _One_ ," she whispered.

 _"_ _Two,"_ Neville whispered behind her.

"NOW!" Harry yelled.

Everyone shot off their spell at the shelf opposite. The towering shelf swayed with the weight of a thousand orbs, a hundred or so of them bursting and forming misty figures with hollow voices. They began to rain down, shattering in a downpour on the stone floor.

"RUN!" Draco called.

Shelves, as it was not only the one anymore, began to splinter and sway precariously as they ran as fast as they could past each scene. The Death Eaters charged as well, with a few turning into some sort of mist to pop up in front of them. Lucius appeared with a twisted grin in front of Hermione, who screamed in surprise. Before she could react, Draco came to the rescue and punched his sire, pulling her after him to run.

The door they had come through was still open and they ran for the door. When they got there, Hermione had thought Ron, Lavender, Daphne, Ginny, and Luna were there as they had been ahead, but it was only Neville, Harry, and Draco with her. They shut the door behind them with a spell to seal it.

"The others must have gone the other way," Hermione said.

On the other side they could hear voices.

"Leave Nott, _leave him, I say,_ the Dark Lord will care more about the prophecy. We'll split into pairs. Handle Potter carefully until we have the prophecy in hand. Kill the others if necessary, but leave my son to me. I want to be the one to deal with _him_."

Draco went very pale at hearing this. "We should get away from the door."

There was a loud crashing sound on the other side of the door and the four of them ran as though they were being chased again. They passed an enchanted egg with a strangely charmed bird that changed from an egg to a hatchling to a bird again. They could hear the Death Eaters following and Neville pulled her under what appeared to be a work desk. Harry and Draco ducked under another across from them, the four of them giving each other signals to stay quiet.

"Checks under the desks," they heard a Death Eater say.

Hermione nodding with Harry as two came their way. _One... Two... Three..._

" _STUPEFY_!"

The two Death Eaters flew off their feet and they ducked out from under the desks as multiple disarming spells came. There were running footsteps behind them and Hermione glanced back to throw a stunner. There was a thud and the sound of the other footsteps going around their fallen comrade.

"Good one, 'Mione!" Harry shouted. They ran through the door that lead into the hallway of doors, but the exes Hermione had made to mark their progress earlier seemed to have vanished.

They turned around to face their foes that were still there, the two of them. "WE FOUND THEM!" One of them shouted. "THEY'RE IN THE-"

 _"_ _Silencio!"_ Hermione said clearly.

The man's voice cut off mid-word. The second pushed him aside and Harry took the chance to petrify him. Hermione turned to him to tell him good job, when the man she'd silenced made a slashing movement with his wand and something like a purple fire erupted from it, hitting Hermione in the chest. There was a startled expression on her face and she fell forward where Neville caught her easily.

Draco snarled and cast something that Harry had never heard of, and for good reason he realized as he watched the man begin to scream in a way that grown men shouldn't scream; his skin moving the way water does when boiling properly. Blood dribbled out of his facial orifices, some of it like tears, and he fell to his knees and then his front... very still.

Draco didn't look at either of the other boys, but they all dropped to examine Hermione. Her skin was still warm, but she didn't move. Neville pressed two fingers on her wrist as blood blossomed through her shirt in a long cut across her torso.

"There's a pulse," Neville said, looking to Draco. "What was that?"

"What I did or what Dolohov hit her with? Obviously I know both."

"Then tell us both," Harry said in a hard voice.

Draco stood up. "Unfortunately I wasn't lying in September when I told you my father taught me some curses. What _he_ used is a spell he created that has never failed to kill it's target on impact. Though, I suppose he wasn't in the habit of doing it wordlessly. Uncle Severus will be able to help her if we can get her back to the school."

"You two take her," Harry said, "Sound an alarm, get her to Hogwarts."

"No way," Neville said. "We're not leaving you, and I'm not leaving Ginny. We'll take her with us."

Neville, in a feat that made Harry realize they weren't eleven anymore, pulled Hermione into his arms and lifted her with a grunt. He looked to Harry, waiting for his direction, but before they could decide what door to go through, one of the doors opened and five people fell through it.

"Daphne!" Harry called, running to them as she rolled over to her back- coughing and obviously having trouble breathing. Ginny was also breathing shallowly.

"I'm fine," she waved. "But I think Ginny broke her ankle, Luna heard something snap."

Sure enough, Ginny's ankle was poking out at an odd angle and she gasped harshly when Draco examined it. Neville looked torn between the unconscious girl in his arms and his soulmate who was obviously in distress.

"Love?" He asked.

"I'm okay," she insisted at the same time Lavender asked about Hermione.

"She'll be okay," Draco said, "if we hurry her to Hogwarts."

Luna stood up, helping Daphne at the same time Ron helped Lavender up. They all had cuts on their faces and soot as though from an explosion of sorts. Both doors burst open and there were two groups of Death Eaters.

"Through there," Ginny said, pointing to another door.

Ron stepped forward and scooped her into his arms as the Death Eaters ran at them. Lavender opened the door and the injured went through first, with Harry and Draco last. Before Harry could use Hermione's locking spell on the door, they came through.

 _"_ _Impedimeta!"_

Harry pulled Draco into dodging it and they ran after the others past the jars of brains again. This was the one with the archway they'd seen. The Death Eaters descended upon them as it came into view with its strange silver, whispering smoke. One called Travers hexed Ginny and Ron into toppling, Ginny crying out in pain. Another did the same to Neville and Hermione, making Hermione roll from his arms and hit hard against the archway, leaving a red smear that seemed to glow. Bellatrix was fast to grab Neville, her wand jutting harshly into his neck. He could hear startled sounds from his friends as it happened to everyone. One Death Eater had Daphne by her golden hair, jerking her by it where there were tears glistening in her eyes that he could see from the distance.

"Let them go," he stuttered as Lucius came into view. "Let everyone go, and-and I'll give it to you."

He laughed darkly. "You're no longer in the position to make demands, Potter. I'm sure you can ask my son what happens when someone displeases me."

Draco, who was still beside him, tightened and pursed his lips but said nothing.

"I'll break it," he said, lifting the orb above his head. "Then what will your master think?"

"You dare-" Bellatrix began, but at that moment; Sirius, Kingsley, Lupin, Moody, and Tonks burst through the door and began firing off curses.

Harry, Neville, and everyone standing dropped to the ground in an effort not to get hit. Harry, Draco, and Neville belly crawled to Hermione who was still unconscious. The blood coming from her was beginning to alarm them.

"We need to get her to Severus," Draco said. "If anyone can help, it's him. Well, now that Dolohov is dead."

"Yeah," Harry said absently. "Thanks for that."

"Now that my family wants to kill me? Any time."

" _Give it to me!"_ Lucius said frantically, his eyes alight with madness and his wand aimed at them. "Give me the prophecy."

He made a figure like an eight, the same motion Draco used on Dolohov, and Draco erected a ward between them and Lucius. The spell hit the shield and exploded in brilliant color until he was ripped away by Sirius who did the same thing Draco had done earlier in Hermione's defense- punching Lucius and shoving him away with a curse.

"Are you alright?" He shouted over the noise of duelling that was going on. "Is that Hermione?"

"It was Dolohov," Draco shouted back, hoping that it would make his cousin that he'd never met understand the severity of it.

It seemed to have, as in the glow of curses flying around Sirius looked frightened- a look that Harry decided didn't belong on his face. Bellatrix sent a disarming spell towards Sirius, who dodged it easily in a move that made it look like a dance. He allowed himself to duel her for a moment in graceful steps before shouting,

"Get out of here!" He shouted to them. "The others are taken care of, get Hermione to Hogwarts!"

When he looked, the others that had been in his group were indeed gone. Most of the Death Eaters were gone, no where to be seen, though others seemed to be running away. Neville lifted Hermione again and moved towards the exit. Harry and Draco followed, until out of nowhere, Lucius Malfoy was there again and shot a red jet at his son. Draco flew twelve feet away, hitting the ground hard.

"Get Hermione out of here. Take the prophecy," Harry shouted, nudging Neville on with the orb in Hermione's lap and running to stand between the two Malfoys. "NO!"

"Step aside," Lucius demanded. " _Imper-_ "

Harry pulled up his Shield Charm and glanced back to Draco, who seemed unconscious with something bleeding on his face from the impact. With a clap like thunder, Dumbledore stood there looking as intimidating as Harry had never seen him look before- his face dark and shaded.

" _I think not_ ," he said lowly in a commanding voice.

Lucius whirled around sharply, wand raised. Dumbledore merely waved his hand to one side, and in that direction Lucius flew. The only pair dueling still was Sirius and Bellatrix, and it seemed everyone looked towards them at once as though by some spell.

"You can do better than that!" Sirius yelled, laughing. The taunt echoed around the cavernous room as Bellatrix shot off two jets of red light at once. The first, he easily side stepped, his robes whipping around him elegantly as he did so- but the second hit him squarely in the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, even Bellatrix looked surprised. Her face fell slightly in equal surprise before the corners of her mouth curled up in a grin. Harry watched in horror, his legs pulling him into a run towards dais, his godfather stumbled and began to drift back into the veil in the archway. Someone grabbed him around the waist, Lupin, grabbing him and looking on with his own despaired expression. Harry tried to fight, as Sirius disappeared into the mist.

"NO!" Harry shouted. "I CAN GET TO HIM! LET ME GO!"

"It's too late," Lupin said hoarsely, his voice cracking slightly. "He's gone, Harry."

"NO," Harry insisted, seeing something that made him stop fighting.

Through the veil, on the other side of the mist, a man with black hair stumbled- pulling Sirius with him.

 **A/N: Whoa! Two chapters in less than twelve hours. I rock. Just saying. Last call for theories! Next chapter will be up soon with the reveal. Thank you all for reading. Let me know what you think in the towel section down below.**

 **Dasvidanya, Mia.**


	6. Silence and Soulmates

Chapter six: Silence and Soulmates

Harry could feel Lupin's hold slack in shock and curiosity, and he took his chance to run towards the two new arrivals- going around the archway and sinking to his knees next to Sirius. His godfather looked back at him, his eyes wide and haunted as though it had been longer for him than the half second he'd gone through. His breathing was ragged and Harry could guess that it was leftover from Bellatrix's curse.

"James."

Harry looked over at the other man who'd come through, someone he'd never seen before but looked somewhat familiar. He looked like... Sirius. He was looking at Harry with a strange, startled expression.

"You're not James."

"Regulus?" It was Lupin, frozen at the sight of the other man.

Harry knew that name. That was what Sirius said his brother's name was. And, he looked like a piece in the tapestry room. But Sirius' brother was dead, and this man didn't look a day over nineteen. Sirius tried to sit up, groaning.

"Remus?" The man called Regulus asked, looking at Lupin curiously. "Remus Lupin? You look so... old."

"Reg," Sirius called, pulling himself to his feet and swaying on them. The man steadied him, looking concerned.

"S-Sirius?"

"Mr. Black," Dumbledore said. "I believe you and I need to have a chat, but you all must take Harry and leave. The Aurors shall be arriving soon and so too, I expect, will Voldemort."

The man flinched at the name, looking around uncertainly with a sense of suspicion. "Why are we in the Ministry?"

Dumbledore waved his question off. "All will be explained, but you must leave. I do not think it best that you or Sirius be here when our guests arrive. Remus, take them to Hogwarts hospital wing. No one goes in that isn't in the Order."

"Sir, Draco-"

"Has already been taken care of. You must leave now."

Lupin lead the three of them out a door Harry hadn't noticed to a fireplace. He shoved everyone into the fireplace and pulled Floo Powder from his pocket.

"HOGWARTS!"

They came out in Umbridge's office, that seemed blown apart and Harry thought it felt like years since they were here. Years since they left for the Ministry. Regulus was looking at him in awe.

"Are you- no you couldn't be- but you must be-"

"That's Harry," Sirius said hoarsely, leaning on Lupin. "He's James and Lily's son."

"Yes," Regulus said.

The last thing he remembered was shouting for Kreacher to leave him in the cave. And the Inferi grabbed him and pulled him under the water. If he closed his eyes he could feel the cold and their hands grasping at him. It felt like that had happened only moments ago, but if this was Potter's boy... it had been much longer than that.

"I died," he said with a sense of wonder at the realization. "I-I'm supposed to be dead."

"Die again later," Sirius said gruffly, "we should get to the hospital wing. Harry needs to be checked."

" _Me_?"

Regulus felt perfect, aside from being incredibly confused. It wasn't even like waking up, the way he'd always thought coming back from the dead would feel like. It was literally as though he'd only left his house an hour ago to go to the cave. But here was James and Lily's son looking, what, fourteen? And Sirius and Remus both looking much older than twenty, the age he knew them both to be.

They walked through the school, that was at the same time no different- and much different. The hospital wing was full, with young students in every bed. There was one bed in the back of the wing that was surrounded by curtains with voices behind it. A woman's voice and a man's.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling around the corner, rushing to Lupin and Sirius' side to ease the latter onto another bed. Then she stopped dead at the sight of Regulus. He stopped too, though mostly because she and Dumbledore were the only people he'd seen so far that didn't look any different.

"You... you're here. But, we heard you were dead. How-"

"Poppy," Remus interrupted. "Sirius and Harry. We can explain later."

There was a sharp scream from behind the curtain and Harry, Regulus had to remind himself it wasn't James, looked up and ran forward. A voice Regulus knew very well called out, "Poppy! I need a blood replenisher!"

The woman looked torn, looking at Sirius and back to the curtain where the boy was now. "He should be okay to wait for a moment," she told Remus. "If you need them, there are pain relievers in that cabinet. I'm afraid Miss Granger's in a bad way."

A tall man came from around the curtain, his hands covered in blood. He'd aged, but Regulus remembered the closest thing he'd ever had to a best friend. And apparently so did he, stopping with an even paler face.

"Regulus?"

"Severus. I've been told it's been a long time."

"You're dead," he said flatly. His voice had deepened even more.

"That's what they've been saying."

There was a shaking voice from the curtain, the boy. "Professor?! What's happening to her?"

Severus turned back. "Reg, come on. You can help. Dolohov hit her with his damned curse."

Regulus followed Severus to the curtain where he could hear what it seemed that the girl was seizing, but he stopped dead when he turned the corner. There lay a girl with brown hair fanned around her, that on anyone else might look like a halo, but on her looked something like a bird nest. There were freckles on her face, which was bunched in pain.

He'd forgotten all about that potion. He'd forgotten that he'd brewed and taken it. He'd forgotten what color it was. But he turned, and knew nothing about the girl except that she shone with the brightest silvery blue. Like a star.

"Regulus!" Severus shouted. "Grab her and hold her down before her bones liquefy, damn it!"

Regulus shot forward and did as he was told, watching Severus coax a potion down her throat. When his hands touched her, she stilled, calming, and Severus shot him a questioning look.

"Is she okay?" The boy asked.

Severus looked up at him and snarled. "If you leave us be to work! Go bother someone else, Potter. Perhaps Miss Greengrass is awake."

Somewhere else in the wing a girl's voice called, "Don't talk to Harry like that!"

Severus hung his head for a moment, before casting spells on the girl. The girl. He didn't even know her name and Regulus was tied to her. After nearly an hour, Severus sagged, the colors from his spells fading and color seeming to come back to her face- making it a fresh pink. He watched her eyelids move as she dreamed.

"She'll be fine," his friend said in relief. "She just needs her bandages changed. Poppy can do that later."

Regulus couldn't look away from the girl. "Who is she?"

Severus wasn't fooled. Reg could never fool him. "Hermione Granger, one of Potter's friends."

"She-she was hit by Dolohov?" Reg heard himself ask. Severus confirmed it. "And, did Dolohov survive the particular skirmish that resulted in this?"

"As I heard, Lucius Malfoy's son killed him in vengeance."

Yes, Narcissa's son. Regulus had been there when he was born. Severus lead them away from her and Regulus was forced to look away. "It's good to see you, Reg."

"Wish I could say the same, Severus," he grinned, "but I'm sorry to say old age doesn't suit you. You've got wrinkles and everything."

He shuddered and Severus rolled his eyes. "You don't look any different than the last time I saw you." His face turned serious. "What happened? How are you here right now?"

"I don't know. I was fighting off Inferi, then next thing I know I'm in the Ministry with Lupin, Sirius, and James Potter's spawn."

"There's a lot you've missed."

* * *

"Why did you do it, Reg?"

Sirius could very clearly remember where he was when he was told of his little brother's death. He had been staying at James and Lily's place in Godric's Hollow to help them with newborn Harry, and Remus had just gotten back from one of Dumbledore's seemingly countless missions. When he'd heard the telltale sounds of Remus' heavy boots, James and Lily had finally been convinced to take advantage of the lull and sleep with Sirius kept Harry in good spirits. He remember it was raining hard that night, and he should have known then what was in store- the weather serving as the universe's harbinger of news.

"Who is that," he had asked the baby, rocking him in the bassinet. "Is that Moony?"

He wasn't sure what it was about infants that made one speak in that false cheerfulness as though the child could answer back, but he strangely found himself susceptible to it.

The door swung open with a sound that was louder than the thunder, and Sirius was afraid for a moment that it might have woken James or Lily. Or perhaps have broken the spell it seemed he had been able to cast on Harry.

"Blimey, Moony," Sirius scolded quietly, checking to be sure Harry was still laying peacefully.

He was, looking around with large eyes that Sirius hoped he would grow into and reaching up with tiny, curious hands. He was about to pick him up when he caught sight of his friend standing in the doorway, ragged and tired. Sirius didn't know what it was Dumbledore had him doing, but he always came back from it even more fragile looking than when he left. Such as when Sirius looked up and saw Remus standing only by holding himself up with the wall.

"Remus!" Sirius had never stood up from the floor so fast, running to help him.

The other man groaned, allowing Sirius to lead him to the sofa where he collapsed onto it with an _oomph!_ \- leaving Sirius standing there with rust colored blood covering his hands. He could remember staring at them in dumb horror before turning his wide eyes to Remus.

"You-you're bleeding," he'd said, his voice shaking and sounding afraid even to his own ears. "T-that's a lot of blood."

"It's not mine," Remus croaked. There was a fuss from Harry's bassinet, that quickly turned into crying again, but Sirius made no move to stop it. Remus' sorrowful gaze was pinning him in place- and he didn't dare move.

"If it isn't yours," Sirius began as calmly as he could, though it came out very strained, "then whose is it and why are you _soaked_ in it?"

There were steps on the stairs and Lily and James were there, looking much better than they had previously.

"Remus?" Lily had asked in her soft way. "What's happened? Are you alright?"

James, who now had the still screaming Harry in his arms, came over as well and caught sight of Sirius' shaking hands. "Is that blood?"

Remus finally panted out, "One of _his_ new recruits. He died in my arms, but he told me- that is , I _heard_ -"

"Get on with it, Moony, you loquacious bastard!"

Seaweed green eyes hesitantly met aegean. "It's your brother, Sirius. Voldemort- he- I was told Reg betrayed him. And-"

"And _what_?" Sirius asked harshly.

"Sirius, mate, calm-"

Sirius ripped away from James' comforting hand on his shoulder. "No. Tell me."

"He's dead."

Sirius' mind came back to the present, to Regulus washing his face in the sink of a private part of the hospital wing where they were confined. He watched his brother, the person he'd sworn his whole life to love and protect. The person he'd spent years thinking he'd failed.

"Why did you do it, Reg?"

Regulus hated questions that began with that word. Why. Why did there always need to be a reason? Unfortunately, sometimes people did things _without_ reason. There was no reason to the stars. There was no real reason to evil, or good, or love.

"Why does anyone do anything, Sirius?" He replied tiredly, hanging his head so he wouldn't have to look in the mirror. "What are you on about?"

"What am I-" Sirius grabbed Regulus' left arm harshly and shook it at him. "Why did you do _this_?"

He jerked the sleeve down to expose the Dark Mark, writhing in itself and mocking Regulus by its mere existence. Sirius seemed to be searching his face for some sort fo reaction, but Regulus contained his cool expression that he'd had plenty of practice with his brother to perfect. This only served in angering his brother further.

"Why, if you'd already chosen a coward's life, would you back out knowing it meant your death?"

Regulus tore his arm away, bristling at being called that word, and snarled in such a way he'd learned from Severus. "And what would you have had me do, brother mine? If I recall, you'd denounced our family. Left to shack it up with Potter and your gang."

"Damn it, Reggie, you were my little brother! I left _them_. I left our sorry excuse for parents, _not_ you. Bloody hell, Regulus, you could have come to me! No matter my feelings about them, I'd have gotten you out!"

"And what would I have said, Sirius? I'm sorry I was never as brave as you were. I tried, really, I did. But I'm not you! When the Sorting Hat wanted to put me in Gryffindor, I begged it for Slytherin. But while I supported you after you went into Gryffindor, you couldn't return that. I went into Slytherin, you turned your back on me!"

"Boys!" Madame Pomfrey shouted at them in an offended way that suggested she'd been trying to get their attention. "I have patients, and you are not supposed to be seen. I'm sure the whole school can hear you. Cast a Silencing charm before I hex you both!"

Regulus glared at Sirius' staggered expression.

"No need," he said darkly, "we're done here."

And he left, pettily knocking Sirius aside with his shoulder on his way passed.

* * *

Regulus spent a great deal of time, since he couldn't leave anyway, at Hermione's bedside while she slept. He'd been told about her, had forced Severus to tell him everything. She was a Gryffindor, but Regulus was hardly surprised. The Sorting Hat itself had told Regulus long ago that he belonged in the House of the brave, but it was wrong. As he'd told his brother, Reg wasn't brave enough to follow in Sirius' footsteps. So he'd taken the easy route, the _coward's_ way, and tried to be as cunning as the best of them.

Muggleborn. Despite what he'd always told his brother, he didn't care about blood status. Now that he'd been told Mother was dead, he felt confident in saying that aloud.

"What are you going to do now?" He heard a soft voice ask on the other side of the curtain surrounding Hermione's bed. "Your father will kill you if you go home."

While Sirius and Regulus weren't allowed to leave the hospital, it didn't stop students from getting hurt in the last days of the school year and needing Pomfrey to see to them. Sirius could, and did, transform into his animagus form when someone came into the hospital. Regulus, however, was content to sit at his soulmate's side while she healed and would not easily be moved; hence, the curtain that blocked him from the few of incoming people.

The children who had all been at the Ministry were cleared to leave as they wished, and a few of them came and went, but they all spent their time there anyway. And Dumbledore encouraged it while he sorted things with the Ministry and the press and the school affairs. Regulus hadn't even had the chance to speak to him about the Horcruxes.

"I don't know," a familiar voice said. "Maybe I can convince Dumbledore to let me stay here. Or somewhere else. I rather like living, you know?"

There was a childlike girlish giggle at his attempt in gallows humor. Regulus recognized the voice as Draco, Narcissa's son. He frowned at what he'd overheard and stood to step around the curtain. Draco was sitting on his bed, which was next to Astoria's- whom he'd been able to deduce as his Glow. They both looked at him when he came into view.

"Draco," he said, "I wonder if you and I might have a word."

"Sir?" The boy asked, hesitant and slightly confused.

Regulus only nodded with his head to a corner of the wing that was not occupied. Draco stood and walked behind him. Once there, he motioned for the boy to sit on an abandoned chair while he leaned against the wall. Neither of them said anything for a moment while Regulus thought about how he wanted to proceed.

"She probably never mentioned it," he decided to say, "but Cissa and I were particularly close as children. I suppose, like everyone else she's much older now."

"She did," Draco told him. "She used to tell me about you and your brother both. She told me about the Floo powder."

Regulus chuckled, a sound he hadn't made much in the time he'd been alive again. "Did she? Did she also tell you it was her idea to sneak in the Floo to go get candy in Diagon Alley? Our parents were furious. I'm sure if I squirmed just right, I'd still feel that beating in my backside."

Draco smiled. "She always said it was yours."

"Yes, well, she told our parents that too," he said dryly.

He paused, then, "I heard about you standing up against Lucius, and killing Dolohov to protect the others. I have my own reasons for thanking you for doing that, you've said me the hassle."

Draco nodded. "We've all guessed that you're why Granger didn't find her Glow before. I'm sure you'll be sufficiently threatened by Weasley and Potter both after they wrap their heads around it fully."

"They can try, but when you've been threatened by professionals- all other attempts at intimidation seem to fall a little flat. You have anyone you can stay with aside from your parents'?"

"I do not," the boy told him, his mood waning again.

"I couldn't help but overhear," Regulus said by way of explanation. "Dumbledore won't let you stay here over summer hols. He's never let anyone before, no matter the circumstances. But, I think it would be futile to think you are ignorant of the Order of the Phoenix?"

Draco nodded, having deflated even more.

Regulus picked off a piece of invisible fuzz from the robes he'd borrowed from Severus, his own being a bit overdo for a wash. "Once my return becomes known again, I will by law become the Head of the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black. I own the headquarters to the Order. And though I'm not much of a politician, I doubt my brother would care either if he retains the title."

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"I mean, you are more than welcome to find a home with us. You are family, and while that might not mean much to Lucius, or meant much to any in our family before us, it means something to me. With the current chaos of the Ministry, it shouldn't be terribly difficult to have your guardianship switched over."

The boy seemed to think about it for a few minutes, his elbows on his knees and his head hanging to stare unmoving at his bare feet on the stone.

"Would my name still be Malfoy?"

Regulus had assumed it would, but there was something about the boy's tone when he'd asked. "Is that what you want?"

Draco looked up with a resigned, determined expression. "No. I want nothing to do with the man. If there's a way to cut off anything to do with him, I'll gladly do it."

"Very well," Regulus nodded in acknowledgment. "Draco Black it is.

* * *

She was alone, and it was dark. It was as though her entire world was submerged into nothing, but she was still there and conscious enough to feel panicked and pain. Hermione felt a lot of pain. She felt deep, burning pain in her chest. Then it all seemed to stop. She could hear voices, one she knew and trusted, and another that she didn't but trusted all the same. When she opened her eyes, there was pink light streaming through the windows in the hospital wing.

She tried to sit up, groaning as she looked around in search for her friends. But there was only curtain and an empty chair.

"Harry?" She called. "Ron?"

There was a shuffling sound and Madame Pomfrey came around the corner. "Miss Granger! You slept longer than we expected. There were people getting worried here... oh no, no, no, no. Don't get up yet."

"What's wrong?" She asked. "Why am I numb?"

The mediwitch smoothed the hair out of her face sympathetically. "It's a lot better than if you wasn't, dear. I'm afraid you'll be in pain for a few days, but Professor Snape was able to patch you up good as new."

"If I was good as new, I wouldn't be numb _or_ in pain."

"Now be kind."

"I apologize," Hermione said offhandedly, looking around. "Harry? Ron? Are they okay? Is everyone else..."

"Miss Weasley had a broken ankle, but was released yesterday. Your friends have been harassing me about your health. I've had to threaten to take points before they left. Not to mention Mr. Black."

The doors to the hospital wing opened and Madame Pomfrey looked up and disappeared around the corner. Hermione could hear talking, but could see no one for the curtain in between. That had to go. She could move her arms, and parts of her legs, so she swung them around to get up and move the curtain. Though, when her feet touched the cold stone floor, her knees buckled and hit the floor hard.

"Ugh," she groaned in pain and at the sound of Madame Pomfrey coming back.

"Did you not hear me when I told you that you shouldn't move?"

"Move the curtain," Hermione said. "Please! Then, I promise I'll-"

Standing with Madame Pomfrey was Professor Snape and someone she'd never seen before, but she knew who he was when she saw him. Not by name, perhaps, but in importance. He stood tall, though not as tall as Snape or Remus, with black hair tied at the nape of his neck, clear blue eyes like water, and a magnificent golden Glow surrounding him.

She knew she was staring, but so was he.

All the books she'd read, all the journals and poems always said that the Glow started with a small light that grew, but the gold was sudden and blinding that she almost couldn't look at it. At him. It was pulsing, the edges of it seeming to reach out before pulling back in. Her soulmate, and she'd never seen him before. But she had.

Hermione frowned at the familiarity she felt at seeing his face. He looked like Sirius, the black hair and crystal eyes something of a Black trademark just as platinum hair and silver eyes were a Malfoy sign.

"Hello," he said smoothly. His voice was very proper. Hermione had known Dukes that spoke with less satin in their tone.

"Hello," she echoed.

"Miss Granger," Madame Pomfrey said, awkwardly interrupting their strange encounter, "let's get you back up on the bed. You mustn't rush this. You're very lucky to be alive, very smart to silence Dolohov the way I'm told you did. If he had spoken aloud you wouldn't have made it here to receive treatment."

"That's very reassuring," Hermione said, letting the mediwitch help her up and set her into the bed. "Is everyone okay? I mean... we didn't lose anyone did we?"

Madame Pomfrey shot a glance at the stranger. "No, everyone is perfectly accounted for. We were very lucky. We even gained someone. This is Regulus Black, Sirius' brother."

Hermione looked back at him. "I thought you were dead."

He only smiled a tight smile, as though he'd heard this enough in the last...

"How long has it been?"

"Five days."

"Five days?" She asked, surprised. "I've been asleep for five days?"

The door opened again and someone called for Madame Pomfrey. She promised to be back momentarily and left Hermione with Professor Snape and Regulus Black. Once again Regulus and Hermione stared at each other while Snape glanced back and forth between the two.

"Miss Granger," he said, interrupting them. "What was it that you put in your potion?"

Hermione tore her eyes away and looked to her professor. His expression told her he knew they were soulmates. "I used bluebell petals, crushed bittersweet, a lotus in full-"

"Lotus? Why did you use lotus?"

She felt a stab of fear that she'd done something wrong... but she obviously hadn't or she wouldn't see a Glow. "For patience."

He blinked a few time and nodded slowly. He was acting different today, not as harsh as he usually was. "Lotus _can_ represent patience, however, it's most common meaning is rebirth. Regeneration. It's commonly used in youth elixirs and an antidote to many transformative potions. It seems that your potion, with a disturbing combination of your blood at the entryway into our world, brought someone back to us."

Regulus and Severus had had a long discussion of such things, and they'd been told about the girl bleeding on the Veil- a fact that made Regulus sick to his stomach. He'd been told about the fifteen years he'd been dead, but he had yet to have that discussion with Dumbledore that he needed. There was so much he needed to tell him, in hopes of destroying the Dark Lord. The only thing he could hope was that Kreacher still had the locket or had thus been able to destroy it.

"So, I'm the reason he's back?" She asked hesitantly.

Regulus smiled, as charmingly as he could. "Thank you for that."

She pursed her lips and looked away.

"Hermione?" Harry, not James, came in with a fairly decent number of students with him- all students who had been in the hospital wing after the Ministry. Including Draco, who gave Regulus a nod.

She smiled at them and hugged Harry and the redheaded boy tightly. Severus had told him about them, and the close relationship the three of them had, but that didn't mean that Regulus had to like it. He felt a sort of possessiveness and jealousy, but their embrace didn't last long and she was looking at him and Severus.

"We should probably leave you all to it," Regulus said slowly, watching the Glow around her dim slightly.

Hermione watched Regulus and Professor Snape leave, and heard the door to the hospital wing close behind them with a note of finality. Her soulmate. She looked to her friends with a strained smile that she could tell Harry saw straight through.

"Are you alright?" Neville asked, "You went down fast. It was frightening, all that blood..."

He looked pale from the memory and Ginny placed her hand in his to comfort. "I'm fine, Neville. I might be able to leave as soon as this afternoon or tomorrow morning."

This was a lie, as she hadn't been told when she would be able to leave the hospital, but it felt like she needed to add something to the end of telling him she was okay and couldn't think of anything else. She doubted she would be out for another day or two at the least if her knees giving out were any indication of health. Maybe Regulus would come to see her again.

"Did you hear me, Mione?"

"I'm sorry?"

Ron didn't seem to notice there was anything off in her when he repeated the question. "What did Snape and Regulus want?"

" _Professor_ Snape," she corrected automatically. "And they were the ones who put me to rights."

"Did they tell you about Regulus?" Draco asked her with a cynical look. "How he came out of the Veil? No one will tell us anything about how, just that he did. Though, we heard your name mentioned."

Hermione wondered who all knew, or even who in the world knew about Regulus' return. "Nothing," she lied. "Just that he came from the Veil after Sirius fell through it. Are they keeping it secret? That he's alive?"

Daphne handed her a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Dumbledore isn't telling anyone that wasn't there aside from a few in the Order. But Sirius was proved innocent. After we left the Ministry, Fudge came and so did the Dark Lord and someone named Pettigrew. There are rumors that Fudge is resigning as Minister, but it's been confirmed that Umbridge won't be coming back."

"She-she's not dead is she?"

"Unfortunately not."

 **A/N: What do you think? Yes, a lot of you were able to guess near the end, but king's to alxxman for being the first. I hope you like how I handled it. My husband said that he wasn't sure how he felt about Regulus coming back and being completely okay mentally and physically, but in all honesty, I think it's too cliche that a character comes back scarred and infirm and (in the case of Dean in Supernatural) all angsty about being forced by demons to torture people and now he has demons of his own. That's just icky and I feel like it can hinder on the story if it's over done. I like the idea of Regulus being confused because it feels like only a minute ago he was fighting Inferi and now his friends are old or dead. That's some shit.**

 **I wasn't sure how to handle Regulus and Hermione's first meeting, but I hope you liked it in all it's awkwardness. How do you like Sirius' parts? There will be more between him and Regulus. I promise. Draco? Severus? Please review!**

 **Dasvidanya, Mia.**


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